Irish High Court pauses Jane Doe's Pornhub abuse case amid US $120 million settlement talks

Jane Doe, an anonymous U.S. survivor, claims that Aylo (formerly MindGeek) uploaded and monetised videos of her sexual assault, one of which was posted on Pornhub when she was 16. She sued the company in Alabama and later brought a related action in the Irish High Court against Irish-incorporated subsidiaries, seeking compensation and orders to remove the material. The Irish case was put on hold while a proposed $120 million settlement of the U.S. class actions is being negotiated, a deal that would require stricter ID checks and enhanced moderation.

Aylo, owned by Ethical Capital Partners and rebranded in August 2023, has been accused of allowing abusive content to circulate due to understaffed moderation teams and profit-driven policies such as Modelhub. Court documents reveal internal emails describing speed-over-accuracy pressures on moderators and instances where illegal videos remained online for years. The settlement, if approved, would not constitute an admission of wrongdoing but would impose new safeguards across the company’s network of sites.