WASHINGTON – NCOSE CEO Dawn Hawkins repeated factually incorrect claims about Pornhub’s content moderation on Tuesday during a news conference co-hosted on Capitol Hill by Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
The event was the public unveiling of Cruz’s Take It Down Act, co-sponsored by Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar. The proposed bill criminalizes the uploading of sexual abuse based on images and requires their removal within 48 hours.
Hawkins was invited to represent NCOSE alongside members of other organizations supporting the bill, such as RAINN and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
In 2015, Hawkins – a pro-censorship Mormon activist with a background in conservative and GOP PR – was instrumental in renaming Morality in Media the “National Center on Sexual Exploitation” (NCOSE) to address the historical religious motivation of the to secularize the group and bring the group into line. optics to imply affiliation with the more prestigious, secular NCMEC.
Hawkins took the opportunity to mischaracterize Pornhub’s current moderation practices.
“Platforms like Pornhub, Reddit and for a pensive Senator Cruz. “This is the unacceptable reality we face today, and it will continue to be the case unless Congress acts now.”
Hawkins later shared a video of her non-factual comments on NCOSE’s X account.
A Pornhub representative told XBIZ: “It is clear that the claims made in the video are not factually accurate, at least as it relates to our platforms.”
The rep shared Pornhub and parent company Aylo’s trust and safety processes, which he said “directly contradict many of the claims made in the video.”
Pornhub believes that its current, comprehensive security measures are unprecedented in the history of user-generated platforms when it comes to tools to prevent and eliminate unwanted material.
Despite Hawkins’ unsubstantiated comments to the lawmakers who invited her, Pornhub’s safeguards include an uploader verification program that uses secure biometric facial recognition technology to guarantee the identity of the uploader of all content; co-performer verification, which establishes the consent of all participants in uploaded content; an inability to download free content; continued additions to its suite of automated moderation tools (CSAI Match, Content Safety API, PhotoDNA, Vobile, Safer, Safeguard, NCMEC Take It Down, StopNCII); use of digital fingerprint technology to prevent the re-upload of unauthorized material, a content removal request form that, once completed by a user, immediately and automatically disables a piece of content pending further review; partnerships with leading internet safety nonprofits; guarantees, among other things.
“Aylo’s security measures have set a standard for compliance programs in the technology and social media industries, and credible third-party analytics have praised the success of our efforts to date,” the representative said. “For example, NCMEC reported that Aylo platforms reported fewer CSAM incidents and removed material that NCMEC flagged more quickly after being notified than other major tech platforms, including Facebook, X, Google, Instagram and more. We are proud to be at the forefront of content moderation on the internet, and we are committed to continually evolving our trust and security practices to remain at the forefront of internet safety.”
As XBIZ reported, lawmakers from both major political parties continue to invite Hawkins and the secular NCOSE, despite the organization’s documented history of homophobic activism and current crusades to criminalize all forms of sex work and eradicate all adult content.
New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issued a press statement in March prominently highlighting her partnership with NCOSE during her introduction of the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act of 2024 (DEFIANCE Act), which proposes a federal civil action for victims of deepfakes.
After XBIZ reported on AOC’s partnership with NCOSE, its chief of staff, Mike Casca, called the story “nonsense.”
“It’s not a partnership,” Casca told XBIZ via his X account. “She has a bipartisan bill to stop non-consensual deepfake pornography that centers on survivors’ civil rights of action. Organizations left, right and center support this. Bipartisanship is how bills become law in a divided Congress.”
Casca declined to answer follow-up questions specifically about NCOSE, particularly about how the pro-censorship lobby was brought to the fore – it ranked second in a non-alphabetical list of more than 30 supporting organizations and Hawkins’ quote is one of the only two offered by either of these groups – constituted a ‘bipartisanship’.
While the ultra-conservative Senator Cruz may seem like a more suitable ideological partner for NCOSE and Hawkins, his official X account has a notorious reputation. documented history of enjoying explicit, unpaid pornography – especially that of Cory Chase work for Reality Kings – on his feed.