CEO and COO of Pornhub parent company MindGeek resign amid renewed controversy

MindGeek, the company which owns adult entertainment brands including Pornhub, Brazzers and Digital Playground, has announced the resignation of CEO Feras Antoon and COO David Tassillo.

The company, which has faced a mountain of controversies ranging from allegations of monopoly and providing a platform for sex trafficking, was thrown into the spotlight earlier this month due to an expose from The New Yorker. It alleges that MindGeek has done little to combat the publication of illegal content on its platforms, despite previous promises to take such allegations more seriously.

In comments to Variety, a spokesperson for the company said that a leadership transition had been planned since early 2022, with the two executives remaining shareholders. The spokesperson said: “Antoon and Tassillo leave MindGeek’s day-to-day operations after more than a decade in leadership positions with the company. With the company strategically positioned for long-term growth, MindGeek’s executive leadership team will run day-to-day operations on an interim basis, with a search underway for replacements.”

The spokesperson did not give an explicit reason for the departures, nor did they address the allegations from the New Yorker story.