Money Shot: The Pornhub Story: When did Pornhub first start?

Netflix’s latest documentary that’s sure to garner a lot of attention is Money Shot: The Pornhub Story. The film, which runs a little over an hour and a half, focuses on the adult film conglomerate MindGeek, and their extremely successful website Pornhub.

The internet pornography destination is one of the most-viewed websites in the world, comparable to mega-companies like Amazon, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit. And while the site has opened up incredible opportunities for sex workers and pornography performers, it’s also seen an extremely dark side. When anyone can post anything they want on the internet, not all of it will be good.

Money Shot: The Pornhub Story explores the good and bad sides of Pornhub, featuring interviews with pornography performers like Siri Dahl, journalist Nicholas Kristof, a spokesperson from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and Pornhub ambassadors.

The new documentary tries to cover a lot of ground in just one feature-length movie, and I can’t help but wonder if a multi-episode docuseries would’ve worked better to give them more time to go over Pornhub’s beginnings and cultural impact. If you’ve watched the doc and are curious about when the site began and how, here’s what to know.

When was Pornhub created?

Pornhub was first launched in 2007 by web developer Matt Keezer in Montreal Canada. Just three years later in 2010, the Luxembourg-based IT and pornography company MindGeek (previously known as Manwin) purchased the site. MindGeek also owns other pornography websites such as Brazzers, RedTube, YouPorn, and Xtube.

The main purpose of Pornhub is for users to watch pornography videos for free, but if you sign up for a free account, you have additional access, for example being able to download videos and upload videos yourself. This has proved extremely dangerous and hurtful, as the website has seen clips of sexual abuse and sex trafficking added to the site, along with sexual videos without the subject’s consent. The company has faced controversy and lawsuits, understandably, for that reason.

Want to learn more about the story? Money Shot: The Pornhub Story is now streaming on Netflix.