The NYT accuses Google: “You support online paedophilia”

The New York Times has published a new article denouncing the trafficking in child pornography and paedophilia on the web. This time, the progressive newspaper’s columnist Nicholas Kristof accuses Google not only of failing to censor depraved and illegal content, but even of encouraging it. Kristof continues his investigation into the world of child sexual exploitation and online paedophilia, explaining how Google has helped its users to access child sexual abuse and rape content published on sites such as Pornhub and XVideos.

The NYT had previously denounced Pornhub for the millions of paedophile videos, which prompted the decision of some credit card networks such as Mastercard and Visa to ban payments to the site. When Pornhub deleted the videos, millions of customers moved to XVideos, a pornographic site with no scruples. In fact, the columnist explains that this site “is the hub of a porn empire that gets six billion views a day and inflicts anguish around the world - which raises the question: Why do we let these companies get away with this?” Given that these millionaire giants not only continue to exist undisturbed despite their serious crimes, but also that “Google is a pillar of this sleazy ecosystem, because about half of the traffic reaching XVideos and XNXX seems to come from Google searches”.

It goes on to say, “A sex-related Google search revealed video results of teenagers having sex of all kinds (on a bus, with a “stepbrother”, etc.) on XVideos and XNXX”. And, in turn, XVideos “voluntarily suggests searching for ‘kid’, ‘girl’, ‘boy’...and ‘teen porn’”.

The investigation also points to research that appeared in 2021 in The British Journal of Criminology that found that one in eight videos on the three main sites - XVideos, Pornhub and XHamster - contained sexual violence: “Some show intoxicated or unconscious women or girls being raped. Others are from spy cameras in changing-rooms or beach dressing-rooms showing unsuspecting women or girls (and, less often, men and boys) undressing or showering. Racist epithets and humiliations are revealed, as well as misogynistic videos of alleged feminists being degraded or tortured. Many videos depict rapists, real or fake, forcing children to have sex... One on XVideos has the subtitle of a young girl’s protest: ‘It’s not fair, Dad, stop, please!’”.

But the abuse is not limited to pornographic sites. “Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and other sites are all full of images of child sexual abuse.” One victim revealed to the NYT that “video clips of her naked had been posted on Twitter for six years...Twitter had ignored her requests to remove them”. However, Kristof adds that when he himself asked Twitter to remove that video, it was deleted within hours. This proves that the problem is not with their computer system but with the will of the tech companies that profit from what is among the worst crimes in history.

Clearly, however, the progressive newspaper does not dig down to the deep root of the pornography problem, the consequences of which are paedophilia and sexual violence. In fact, Kristof clarifies: “It’s not about pornography, it’s about rape and sexual abuse... The problem is that many people in the pornographic videos were not consenting adults”. The columnist should be acknowledged for his determination to denounce the evil of evils that is perpetrated on the innocent. But it is from pornography between consenting adults, from sexual pleasure outside its purpose (self-donation, together with exclusive love and the generation of offspring) that we arrive at its perversion and violence. Once the limits for which sexuality exists are removed, its power loses its boundaries and everything becomes possible.

National Review journalist Alexandra DeSanctis believes that it is Google’s job to stop processing payments to Pornhub and similar sites and to take every possible action to stop the crime, and that, “far from providing a form of harmless entertainment, the porn-production and -distribution industry is guilty of rampant abuse, violations of the law, systemic mistreatment of women, and abundant ties to the sex-trafficking industry. We are long overdue for a cultural reckoning with all of it”.

The only solution, therefore, is to ban all forms of pornography, something that neither newspapers like the NYT, nor big business, nor states want or have the courage to demand. And yet, it is historically proven (see for instance Umberto Galimberti, university professor of Cultural Anthropology) that civilisations fell when vice and lust began to dominate them. Pornography, in fact, is a drug that deprives the individual of their creative force, of the sublimation of sexual energy, driving them to isolation and apathy and making everything else incapable of fulfilment: be it a woman in the flesh, a stable relationship, a job well done, a great friendship, a passion. It is therefore understandable how its proliferation online, even when it occurs between consenting adults, at the very least weakens those who watch it. Not to mention its degenerations that make those who access it violent (the numbers speak of millions of children and adolescents) and with a depraved conception of sexuality and women.

But wasn’t the NYT the first major media outlet to support the feminist demands of the sexual revolution that called for the abolition of all taboos? Well, the chickens have come home to roost.