Controversial Toronto law firm launches $500 million lawsuit against PornHub

A Toronto-based personal injury law firm best known for its radio jingles, bus advertisements, and most recently under fire for its controversial business practices, has launched a half-billion-dollar lawsuit against online adult content titan PornHub.

On Thursday morning, Diamond and Diamond announced a class-action lawsuit against MindGeek, the Montreal-based parent company of PornHub, representing an Ontario resident who claims that "the website failed to properly screen sexual content uploaded to the pornhub.com domain."

Plaintiff Christine Wing alleges that three intimate videos depicting her were uploaded to the platform in May 2020 without her knowledge or consent.

"What does one have when you've lost your privacy in the worst way?" said Wing in a press release, adding that this personal content uploaded without her consent "is a violation of the most egregious kind."

Diamond and Diamond state that "Wing is one of thousands of Canadians who may have fallen victim to sexual exploitation."

She and other victims of unconsenting sharing of adult content such as revenge porn could be entitled to a massive payout. The firm claims that damages by this proposed suit "are estimated to be up to $500 million, excluding additional punitive or aggravated damages."

The suit alleges that many images and videos of sexual content shared without consent remain on PornHub despite repeated takedown requests.

Darryl Singer, Head of Commercial and Civil litigation at Diamond and Diamond Lawyers, says that "It is astonishing how little safeguards PornHub had against harm," claiming it is "a business built on under-age, non-consensual and pirated content."

Inspired by other lawsuits like a $600 million suit by a Plaintiff known as Jane Doe, who claimed her sexual abuse as a child was posted to the site, the class action seeks justice for Wing and other potential victims.

Diamond and Diamond is asking all Canadians who believe their videos or images may have been uploaded to Pornhub to contact the firm.