It’s Way Worse Than You Think: P*rnhub | Laila Mickelwait EP 225

In this disturbing episode, I was joined by Laila Mickelwait (@laila). She’s the founder of the Justice Defense Fund and the global #TraffickingHub movement. Laila broke down real cases, including a missing 15-year-old girl found in 58 videos on the site, and detailed how P*rnhub’s parent company, MindGeek, failed to moderate content responsibly. Laila has spent nearly 20 years fighting trafficking, and she shared how her discovery of unmoderated, illegal content on P*rnhub led to a global campaign for accountability. We explored how early p*rn exposure affects children, the rise of sextortion, why age and consent verification must become the industry standard, and how to help protect kids in an unregulated digital world.  Laila’s book about the fight to shut down P*rnhub (100% of author proceeds are donated to the cause): https://takedownbook.com/  Sign the petition to shut down p*rnhub : Traffickinghubpetition.com —Folllow Laila— X: https://x.com/lailamickelwait IG: https://www.instagram.com/lailamickelwait/ For a high quality, ideology-free education consider enrolling in Peterson Academy: https://petersonacademy.com/ —Follow Me— All Platforms: https://linktr.ee/mikhailapeterson  Instagram: https://instagram.com/mikhailapeterson  TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@mikhailapeterson  Website: https://mikhailapeterson.com  Lion Diet: https://liondiet.com  Biotoxin: https://biotoxin.com  Facebook: https://facebook.com/mikhailapete​rsonpodcast   X: https://twitter.com/MikhailaFuller Telegram: https://t.me/mikhailapeterson​​ —Chapters—00:00 – Introduction 01:22 – Who Is Laila Mickelwait? 02:45 – The Story That Changed Laila’s Life Forever 05:30 – How Easy It Was to Upload Crime to P*rnhub 09:50– Launching the #TraffickingHub Movement 11:30 – The Global Petition and Media Firestorm 13:00 – Credit Card Companies Cut Ties with P*rnhub 14:10 – 91% of P*rnhub Content Deleted 15:30 – Why Verifying Uploaders Doesn’t Fix the Problem 17:30 – Victims and Consequences 21:15 – Inside MindGeek and How the System Enabled Abuse 24:30 – What Allowed This to Go On for So Long 27:30 – Shocking Content That Was Monetized and Ignored 29:30 – The Need for Age and Consent Verification 32:30 – How Laws Are Finally Catching Up 35:30 – The Long-Term Trauma for Victims 39:30 – Laila’s Origin Story 43:30 – Parenting, Prevention, and Shame-Free Communication 47:30 – Early Exposure to Porn: The Stats and Impact 50:30 – Age Verification Laws and Industry Pushback 53:30 – Supreme Court Battle: States vs. P*rnhub 55:30 – P*rn Addiction and Its Neurological Effects 58:30 – Why This Fight Is Far from Over #TraffickingHub