According to reporting by TechCrunch, Ethical Capital Partners (ECP), a Canadian private equity firm that was formed last year, has acquired MindGeek, the owner of several adult entertainment websites including Pornhub, Brazzers, and Redtube. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. In a statement, Fady Mansour, founding partner of ECP, described MindGeek as a dynamic tech brand built on trust, safety, and compliance, and said that ECP’s resources and expertise would help strengthen the company.
The acquisition comes after a difficult period for MindGeek, during which its CEO and COO departed and the company faced multiple lawsuits alleging that it had profited from child sexual abuse material (CSAM). MindGeek responded by removing all non-verified content and requiring identity verification for anyone appearing in user-uploaded videos. ECP referred to MindGeek as “the internet leader in fighting illegal online content” and highlighted the company’s moderation practices, which involve manual review of all uploads by human moderators.
However, MindGeek and the online porn industry as a whole face significant risks from U.S. legislation like SESTA/FOSTA, which hold online platforms liable for facilitating prostitution and trafficking, and have led to credit card companies like PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and Discover no longer processing payments on sites like Pornhub.
