The Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne announced that Montreal-based adult entertainment company, Aylo, on Thursday violated Canada’s privacy laws. The company allowed videos to be uploaded to Pornhub and other Aylo-owned companies without the knowledge or consent of individuals involved.

Following investigation into the company, Dufresne found that although Aylo took initial action to remove the videos, they had a “legal obligation to obtain the complainant’s consent directly from her and had failed to do so.” Dufresne found that Aylo’s previous consent model did not constitute a “reasonable effort” to obtain legitimate and true consent from all parties in the video.

The investigation report into Alylo’s inaction included subsequent recommendations for Aylo to follow, including: deleting all content for which valid consent was not granted, and stopping users from sharing intimate videos until they adopt new guidelines in line with Canada’s privacy laws. 

Dufresne further stated in his report that what happened to the complainant constituted as “image-abuse.” Such behavior is considered abusive under the newly introduced Online Harms Bill that seeks to amend the Criminal Code, among statutes, along with outlining more internet based pornographic offenses. Dufresne affirmed the importance of these laws and obtaining consent of every party, commenting:

Privacy is a fundamental right. In today’s digital world, where information is shared instantaneously and, in many cases, lives online forever, organizations need to ensure that valid consent is obtained – especially when dealing with content as personal and highly sensitive as intimate images and videos.

Aylo reportedly disagreed with the findings of this report and filed for judicial review last May, which prevented the report from being released until Thursday. In an exclusive statement to Global News, Aylo representatives said the company had already taken significant measures to address the issues listed in the report.

The investigation into Aylo began when woman launched a complaint against the website in 2015 after her ex-boyfriend uploaded intimate videos of her without her consent. This offense of revenge porn is reportedly on the rise in Canada, with reports of such offenses rising by 58 percent in the first nine months of 2021 compared to a similar nine month period in 2020.

Dufresne ended his statement by demanding Aylo address their “inadequate privacy protection measures” on their sites as they have “led to devastating consequences.”