Pornhub’s most searched term in 2015 was ‘Lesbian,’ but there are also many categories on its site depicting sexual violence such as hentai (Japanese animated genre that depicts child sexual abuse). Although not real, men who enjoy abusing children may take pleasure from watching this content on Pornhub – Shihoko Fujiwara of nonprofit Lighthouse fears anime is used by some men who abuse children as an outlet. Japan recently passed legislation banning actual photos but does not cover manga or animation media content.
“Hentai” does not meet all criteria for being considered pornographic; however, due to its sexualized content and characters it veers close. Furthermore, some countries consider ‘Hentai” child pornography and believe watching could lead to abuse for young viewers.
To see what was available, I headed to Tokyo’s Akihabara district – known as an epicenter of manga and anime fans (otaku). At one store I discovered ‘hentai’ manga depicting underage girls engaging in sexual acts for sale.
Mindgeek does not actively screen out videos containing sexual material involving minors as this would decrease profits; however, over recent years the company has increased the number of moderates and has started reporting illegal content voluntarily to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; its founder has promised more.