WASHINGTON, DC (May 13, 2025) – In a new report released today, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) revealed that mainstream pornography tube sites like Pornhub, XVideos, XNXX, and xHamster have fueled the global crisis of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA).
“For too long the fight against image-based sexual abuse has focused on the individual actors who nonconsensually distribute sexually explicit material,” said Dr. Marcel van der Watt, president, National Center on Sexual Exploitation. “Meanwhile, pornography tube sites built their empires, in no small part, by allowing, encouraging, and profiting from the distribution of image-based sexual abuse material on their platforms.”
Van der Watt continued, “Today, with the release of our report Not a Fantasy: How the Pornography Industry Fuels Image-based Sexual Abuse in Real Life, the tables have turned. Now there can be no ignoring the fact that the world’s largest purveyors of pornography—the pornography tube sites Pornhub, XVideos, XNXX, and xHamster— share a business model that for more than a decade encouraged and profited from the distribution of image-based sexual abuse material.”
“The pornography industry’s grotesque and irresponsible actions have unleashed harm on a massive scale. We must confront this global crisis with aggressive solutions to protect against further victimization,” Van der Watt said. “Everyone has the right to live free from the possibility of their likeness being stolen, shared, manipulated, and/or exploited for sexual purposes.”
Additionally, Not a Fantasy explores the explosion of AI-generated forged pornography (a.k.a. “deepfake” pornography) and its presence on mainstream pornography sites. The report also includes actionable policy recommendations that aim to hold the corporate kingpins of the pornography industry accountable and stop this abuse at the source.
IBSA is a rapidly growing form of sexual violence which includes the creation, manipulation, theft, extortion, threatened or actual distribution, or any use of images for sexual purposes without the meaningful consent of the person depicted.
The full report can be found at www.NotAFantasy.org.
About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-profit organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography.
