In an unexpected and understated move, XTube has announced that it would be shutting down in just two months’ time. According to the site’s FAQ, the last day to upload new content to the platform was July 5. The site will close on September 5, but new content uploads have already been disabled. Users may download content until closure, but no new subscriptions or credits will be sold, and payouts will be made by September 16.
“It’s a sad day for us at XTube but we have to announce that after 13 years, XTube.com will be shutting down on September 5,” read the statement. “We’re proud of the vibrant community we’ve built since 2008 and we’re grateful to all of you who have shared your content on our platform. Unfortunately, it’s time for us to move on to greener pastures and greater things.”
One of the oldest adult sites on the internet that allowed users to upload their own content, XTube launched in 2008 and has been operating ever since, if perhaps more quietly than some of its flashier siblings, like Pornhub and YouPorn. Parent company MindGeek seems to think that XTube users can get comfy at one of those other sites.
In a written statement to Fox Business, a representative wrote: “XTube has always had a dedicated but small community, and we believe that its users and creators will be better served on one of our existing platforms, where they will be able to take advantage of wider reach and increased visibility.”
The announcement was made so quietly that mainstream media became aware of it when anti-porn, anti–sex work crusader Laila Mickelwait posted a screenshot on Twitter…along with gleeful commentary: “Lesson: If you can’t operate legally, you can’t operate at all. Next up: Pornhub.”
Although no reason for the closure was given in XTube’s initial statement or the days afterward, the media has noted that the announcement comes a month after 34 women sued XTube’s parent company, MindGeek, for allegedly profiting off their content without their consent. And that lawsuit came after an extremely rocky six months that saw MindGeek’s flagship site, Pornhub, dragged over the coals in the media by The New York Times and numerous other outlets, cut off by major credit cards, and have one of its major shareholders exposed by a British journalist. All of which came about after over a year of concerted campaigning by far-right Christian activists Laila Mickelwaite and Exodus Cry to shut down Pornhub with their Traffickinghub campaign.
Those same activists, thrilled by the news of XTube’s imminent demise, have claimed it as their own victory and gone on to make yet more wild allegations against MindGeek. “XTube’s announced shutdown is more evidence that MindGeek’s exploitation empire is crumbling,” said Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), in a statement. “XTube’s closure is a clear victory for the movement to hold Pornhub, MindGeek, and the pornography industry accountable for their facilitation of sexual abuse and exploitation.”
Gross peacocking by religious wingnuts aside, the closure comes as a shock and yet another blow to the adult content community, who are seeing more and more of their options for profiting on their legally created and distributed content taken away by the war against porn.
“The shutdown of Xtube isn’t actually about protecting…already vulnerable sex workers,” As Pink News’s James Factora put it. “Activists have spoken out against the exploitation of their labor for years…and this will only make it more difficult for them to bring in income safely and effectively.”
