Evidence of meeting #19 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was site.
A recording is available from Parliament.
2:35 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
Depending which property you're talking about.... But no, MindGeek does not own any property.
2:35 p.m.
Liberal
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
No property here in Canada, is that what you're saying?
2:35 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
MindGeek does not own any property.
2:35 p.m.
Liberal
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
So MindGeek does not own any real estate property here in Canada.
2:35 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
No. Zero. The building we're in, we simply rent.
2:35 p.m.
Liberal
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
Interesting.
For the record, Chair, I know that the request has been made already, but if this committee can work toward obtaining the financials of MindGeek and its related entities, as well as tax information, I think that would be very useful.
I'd like to give the rest of my time to Mr. Erskine-Smith.
2:35 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Thanks very much.
Mr. Antoon, are you familiar with a recent article in The Globe and Mail, “Lifting the veil of secrecy on MindGeek's online pornography empire”?
2:35 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
There's no secrecy about MindGeek.
2:35 p.m.
Liberal
2:35 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
I think I read it quickly, but there've been so many lately.
2:35 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Okay, in reading that article, did anything stand out to you?
2:35 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
Media articles are not facts; it's journalists writing whatever they want.
2:35 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
In this case, the journalist isn't writing whatever he wants. He's actually reporting on something that two individuals who worked for MindGeek and Pornhub had told him. Did you read that section?
2:35 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
I don't recall. You can remind me if you want.
2:35 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
If I were a CEO of a company and I were very concerned about any single instance of harmful content on my platform, I might have taken this a little bit more seriously, because in that article it was reported that employees flag content so egregious occasionally that they recommended contacting the police. But two former formatters said that they were discouraged by managers from doing so, and one was told not to bother since uploaders are typically anonymous and unlikely to be identifiable.
Does that cause you any concern?
2:40 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
That's a perfect example of journalists not understanding whom they're interviewing. Formatters do not report to the police. Formatters do not review the content for, as David just explained many times—
2:40 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
No, they flagged content so egregious that they recommended contacting the police, and managers said they shouldn't do that.
Doesn't that concern you in any way whatsoever?
2:40 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
It's completely non-factual.
2:40 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
To answer the question directly, and I understand the concern if you read the article, we would, if we ever heard of something like that, look into it immediately—
2:40 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
—and if those comments that were made.... I don't know who the employee is. I don't know who made the comment. If I had additional information, I would definitely look into it. If the committee has access to information, I'd ask you to please hand it over.
2:40 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
So you are so committed to trust and safety that your response to an article like that is to shrug your shoulders and say that journalists make up anything?
2:40 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
That's what I heard from Mr. Antoon.
Mastercard—
