Money Shot The Pornhub Story Movie Review: The new Netflix documentary takes a shy approach to a potentially scandalous story

Pornography is consumed around the world – and has been for decades – by people aware of the victimhood that lies at the heart of the industry. But they have come to terms with this moral dilemma. And a major reason for this is that most people have made the distinction in their minds for a long time her Actions are above the board, what’s happening on the edge of the internet isn’t their problem. But what happens when Pornhub, the world’s largest porn website — and indeed one of the largest sites in the world, period — is accused of not only distributing illegally acquired content, but also turning a blind eye because it generates massive revenues? Would that be enough to make the average consumer reconsider their patronage of this site? Or do they still rely on the hate-the-sin-not-the-sinner logic?

During the pandemic, Pornhub came under the scanners of Canadian authorities – the site is owned by a tech company headquartered in Montreal – when it was alleged that it was hosting non-consensual videos, a significant proportion of which featured underage girls. Less diplomatically, it was claimed that the site hosted child pornography and rape videos. Worse, it hasn’t even done enough to curb the spread and visibility of such videos after it was brought to their attention. Pornhub only began to ease the crisis when Visa and MasterCard ended their partnership with the site, immediately shutting off their revenue stream.

Like most websites, Pornhub relies mainly on two sources of income – advertising and subscriptions. The documentary rightly avoids spending too much time on how the abrupt end to subscription revenue hurt the site and the wealthy tech brothers behind it, instead focusing on the cast members who made a living by uploading their content Pornhub published and sold them directly to consumers where the platform gets a cut. For them – ostensibly the law-abiding section of the site’s content providers – it was a death knell.

But when Money Shot actually ends the foreplay, you can’t help but shrug and wonder why you should care. Naturally The greedy tech company – MindGeek is often dubbed the “porn monopoly,” by the way – was guilty of unethical practices. And, of course, enterprising sex performers became collateral damage as the company instituted a series of over-corrective measures. These are facts; The cast members’ vote of confidence does not exonerate Pornhub of its wrongdoing, nor should Pornhub’s harm control be confused with community service.

Confusingly, Money Shot doesn’t include any voices from Pornhub – big or small. And that’s his biggest mistake. It ends up forming a loose narrative based solely on the opinion of a conglomeration of viewers, including cast members, former employees, and a guy who’s been dubbed a “porn advocate.” What does that even mean? The documentary also doesn’t show the people who waged the most prominent crusades against the site. Money Shot didn’t have to be lewd to be entertaining, but it didn’t have to feel like a seminar either.

Money Shot: The Pornhub Story
director – Susanne Hillinger
Evaluation – 2/5