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Laila Mickelwait

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Laila Mickelwait is an American anti-sex trafficking activist,[1][2] bestselling author,[3] and the Founder/CEO of the Justice Defense Fund.[4][5] She founded the global Traffickinghub movement to "shut down Pornhub" for the distribution[6][7][8] and monetization[9] of sexual crime[10][11][12][13] in 2020 and continues to lead the effort.[1][14][7][15][16][5]

Mickelwait's Traffickinghub petition to "shut down Pornhub and hold its executives accountable for aiding trafficking" has garnered over 2 million signatures from 192 countries[17] and has played an important role in her fight for accountability.[18] Mickelwait's activism and leadership of the Traffickinghub movement played a pivotal role[14][18] in Visa, Mastercard and Discover cutting all ties with Pornhub[19][20][21] and Pornhub removing over 80 percent of the site's content, totaling over 30 million images and 10 million videos[22][23][24][25] in what Financial Times called "probably the biggest takedown of content in internet history."[26]

In July 2024, Penguin Random House published Mickelwait's true crime memoir[18] about her fight to hold Pornhub accountable titled Takedown: Inside the Fight to Shut Down Pornhub for Child Abuse, Rape, and Sex Trafficking[27][28][29][30][31][32] and it quickly earned National Bestseller status by ranking in the top 50 books across all genres on the USA Today bestseller list.[33][3]

Mickelwait has shared her advocacy work through media appearances and interviews on platforms and programs including CNBC's Squawk Box with Andrew Ross Sorkin,[34] Theo Von's This Past Weekend,[15] The Jordan Peterson Podcast,[35] The Jordan Harbinger Podcast,[36] and numerous others. Her work and writing has also been featured in outlets such as the New York Times,[5] [8]The New Yorker,[7] USA Today,[16][37] The Sunday Times,[1] [14] Newsweek,[38][39] Washington Post,[40] New York Post,[41] among others.

Education and background

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Mickelwait received her Master of Public Diplomacy degree from the Annenberg School for Communication and the Dornsife School of International Relations at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State.[42][18] She then interned at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland[18] before becoming the Director of Policy and Public Affairs and subsequently the Director of Abolition for the U.S. nonprofit organization Exodus Cry.[18][7] In 2020, Mickelwait founded the Justice Defense Fund and has served as its CEO since its inception. The organization’s mission is to "empower survivors of tech-facilitated sex trafficking, child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and image-based sexual abuse to pursue justice through strategic litigation and advocacy." It also works to advance support for "governmental and corporate policy reforms aimed at preventing online sexual crime."[43]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Agnew, Megan (2024-07-20). "'Torture made them money': one mum's mission to shut Pornhub". The Times. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  2. ^ Laila Mickelwait + Q&A. Cambridge Union. 2025-03-05. Retrieved 2025-05-02 – via YouTube.
  3. ^ a b "Best-selling Booklist". USA Today. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  4. ^ "Laila Mickelwait". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  5. ^ a b c Kristof, Nicholas (2025-05-10). "Opinion | These Internal Documents Show Why We Shouldn't Trust Porn Companies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-05-20.
  6. ^ Koplowitz, Howard (2023-12-20). "Judge certifies Alabama child sex abuse victim's class action lawsuit against Pornhub". al. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  7. ^ a b c d Kolhatkar, Sheelah (2022-06-13). "The Fight to Hold Pornhub Accountable". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  8. ^ a b Kristof, Nicholas (2020-12-04). "Opinion | The Children of Pornhub". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  9. ^ "Pornhub Parent Company Admits to Receiving Proceeds of Sex Trafficking and Agrees to Three-Year Monitor". Eastern District of New York, United States Department of Justice. 2023-12-21. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  10. ^ Italiano, Laura. "Pornhub is awash in lawsuits by hundreds who say they never consented to the videos uploaded on the site". Business Insider. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  11. ^ "Lawsuit accuses Pornhub of operating like a criminal enterprise". CBS News. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  12. ^ "Alabama mother sues Pornhub for profiting from video of child's molestation". WKRG News 5. 2022-11-14. Archived from the original on 2023-03-08. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  13. ^ Jim Bronskill (2024-02-29). "Pornhub operator broke privacy law by failing to ensure valid consent, watchdog finds". Toronto Star. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  14. ^ a b c Mickelwait, Laila (2024-08-23). "How I forced Pornhub to take down child abuse videos". The Times. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  15. ^ a b Theo Von (2025-02-03). Laila Mickelwait | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #559. Retrieved 2025-05-02 – via YouTube.
  16. ^ a b Jacques, Ingrid. "She took on world's largest porn site for profiting off child abuse. She's winning". USA Today. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  17. ^ Elvish, Emily (2020-10-06). "Over two million people have petitioned to have PornHub shut down". Happy Mag. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  18. ^ a b c d e f "Takedown by Laila Mickelwait: 9780593542019 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  19. ^ Rooney, Kate; Li, Yun (2022-08-04). "Visa and Mastercard suspend payments for ad purchases on Pornhub and MindGeek amid controversy". CNBC. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  20. ^ Goodwin, Jazmin (2020-12-14). "Mastercard, Visa and Discover cut ties with Pornhub following allegations of child abuse | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  21. ^ "Discover Joins Mastercard, Visa in Cutting Ties With Pornhub". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 2024-03-06. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  22. ^ Paul, Kari (2020-12-14). "Pornhub removes millions of videos after investigation finds child abuse content". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  23. ^ Valinsky, Jordan (2020-12-15). "Pornhub removes a majority of its videos after investigation reveals child abuse | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  24. ^ "Pornhub Purges 10 Million Videos After Losing Credit Card Support". PC Magazine. 2020-12-14. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  25. ^ "Pornhub just removed 10 million videos". Cosmopolitan. 2020-12-15. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  26. ^ Barker, Alex; Nilsson, Patricia (2022-06-24). "Inside the secret, often bizarre world that decides what porn you see". Financial Times. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  27. ^ Mickelwait, Laila (2024). Takedown: inside the fight to shut down pornhub for child abuse, rape, and sex trafficking. New York: Thesis. ISBN 978-0-593-54202-6.
  28. ^ Tomaino, Nicholas. "'Takedown' Review: The Seedy Side of the Internet". The Wall Street Journal.
  29. ^ "TAKEDOWN". Kirkus Reviews.
  30. ^ "Laila Mickelwait's Takedown is a brave account of her campaign against Pornhub and broader tech giants". Irish Independent. July 18, 2024.
  31. ^ Bindel, Julie (2024-07-16). "A David and Goliath battle involving a billion-dollar pornography website". The Spectator. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  32. ^ "Pornhub exposed | Josephine Bartosch". The Critic Magazine. 2024-10-17. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  33. ^ "Takedown: Inside the Fight to Shut Down Pornhub for Child Abuse, Rape, and Sex Trafficking". USA Today. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  34. ^ "Bill Ackman says Visa has the power to force Pornhub to remove child pornography". CNBC. 2022-08-02. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  35. ^ Jordan B Peterson (2024-12-02). One Woman's War on P*rnhub | Laila Mickelwait | EP 503. Retrieved 2025-05-02 – via YouTube.
  36. ^ "1143: Laila Mickelwait | Exposing Pornhub's Dark Trafficking Empire". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  37. ^ Mickelwait, Laila. "GirlsDoPorn sentencing is win for trafficking victims. But justice isn't yet fully served". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2025-05-20.
  38. ^ Founder, Laila Mickelwait; CEO; Member, Justice Defense Fund Newsweek Is A. Trust Project (2024-07-22). "Pornhub Is Still a Crime Scene, Even After Its Rebrand | Opinion". Newsweek. Retrieved 2025-05-20.
  39. ^ Founder, Laila Mickelwait; CEO; Member, Justice Defense Fund Newsweek Is A. Trust Project (2022-06-28). "Why Are Visa And Mastercard Still Doing Business with Pornhub?". Newsweek. Retrieved 2025-05-20.
  40. ^ Lagon, Mark P.; Mickelwait, Laila (2016-02-02). "Opinion | The U.S. government turns a blind eye to policies that fuel sex trafficking". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-05-20.
  41. ^ Mickelwait, Laila (2020-06-23). "Big Porn cashes in on racism and anti-Semitism". Retrieved 2025-05-20.
  42. ^ "About Laila Mickelwait - Laila Mickelwait". lailamickelwait.com. 2023-05-22. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  43. ^ "Justice Defense Fund". Justice Defense Fund. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
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