> While I don't disagree with the bulk of your comment, it's worth noting that PornHub / MindGeek didn't just shoot themselves in the foot but hurt the entire industry when there were numerous videos of missing teens and underage content found on their site.
This itself is a misconception driven by those anti-pornography groups. MindGeek was incredibly good about removing CSAM from their platform, not just reactively but proactively. If you look at the numbers, Facebook is actually a much larger source of child sexual exploitation material than Pornhub was. However, Exodus Cry doesn't care about CSAM on Facebook, because their goal isn't to end CSAM: it's to end pornography.
> It's hard for me to scapegoat conservatives and anti-porn groups when they were WAY more vocal and active when I first started my business
Anti-porn groups are way more active today than they were in the early Bush years. The difference is that, unlike then, their campaigns aren't receiving any attention outside the business, which is part of why they're so successful: there's no real opposition.
> if MindGeek had kept their nose clean it likely wouldn't have worked.
Anti-porn groups aren't going after these companies because they have scandals. They're going after them because they oppose pornography, and it fits their agenda. If they cared about ending child exploitation, they would go after companies like Facebook - but they don't, because that doesn't accomplish their explict, stated goal of ending commercial sex work.
It's missing the point to blame MindGeek for the "scandal" when they're nowhere near the worst offender - they're just being targeted by groups who have a specific political agenda. No matter how much work MindGeek does to eliminate CSAM, anti-porn groups will claim that it's not enough. The leader of the Exodus Cry campaign has literally said that they want to make it impossible for MindGeek to operate legally.