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.
1:15 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
No, off the top of my head, I don't have a number. I apologize for that.
February 5th, 2021 / 1:15 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
So you come here today.... Yes, it's a worthwhile apology, although when I ask you what you would say to victims, I would have expected an apology there too. But at a minimum, coming prepared today, you would have thought that you would receive that question.
So you don't know, sitting here today, how many times people reached out to you in 2017, 2018, 2019. You obviously don't have a record of Serena. Maybe you weren't keeping records five years ago. You don't have any clue, sitting here today, how many times people reached out in 2018, 2019—
1:15 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
I respectfully disagree. I actually think we do have all those facts. I just don't have all the facts with me—
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
At a public hearing with members of Parliament.... Do provide those facts to this committee at the earliest opportunity.
I want to get to something—
1:20 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
We will actually be making them available not only to you; we will be making them public. As we stated, the 2020 transparency report will come out later this year.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
1:20 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
I understand that.
To go back to the other comments that you made previously about our not knowing, it's not that we don't know who contacted us. From the limited information we were given—a first name and a last name were the only things that were given to us—we reached out to—
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
How many 13-year-olds reached out to you five, six years ago?
1:20 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
I'm trying to explain to you what actually happened.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
—the question of December 2020, and the changes made in 2020—
1:20 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
—have the information that you're asking for. I would like to give that.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Sure. Be brief, though, because I only have a couple of minutes.
1:20 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
We did try to contact them multiple times, asking for additional information, pre- and post-interview. We didn't receive anything. With the limited information we did have, a first and a last name, we were unable to locate, in any of our forms or any of our emails, that we had received contact.
Once again, we are not insinuating that what they're saying is untrue. We are willing to look into it. We've also reached out to counsel now to get more information: what email it was sent to, whether there was a video—
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
I appreciate that.
You've been part of the company since 2008. Is it fair to say, though, that if the changes you made in December 2020 had been put into place years ago, this instance wouldn't have happened, and GirlsDoPorn wouldn't have happened, and women victimized on your site, young women principally, wouldn't have been victimized on your site?
You made changes in December 2020, and I appreciate those changes, but had you put those changes in place earlier, we wouldn't have seen the victims we see today. Do you think that's fair?
1:20 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
Once again, I respectfully disagree.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
1:20 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
I respectfully disagree with this notion. We've always been improving our procedures. Yes, our system is not perfect, like any other video-sharing platform, adult or non-adult. Just recently, two weeks ago, a publicly traded video-sharing platform got sued by somebody—
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
That's not an answer to my question, Mr. Antoon.
I said, do you think these people would have been victimized if you'd had the December 2020 changes in place earlier?
1:20 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
We can always improve and we can always do better.
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
I think that's a no.
My last question is, why the changes now, in December 2020? You said one instance is too many. You have many women reaching out. It can't be just Serena. You have your 2020 transparency report coming. Why these changes only when MasterCard and Visa say they are going to stop participating in an arrangement with you?
1:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
It seems to me and it seems to the public, I think, that you're only taking that action now to protect your bottom line, not to protect young women.
1:20 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Entreprise MindGeek Canada
We started contacting a very reputable law firm in New York at the beginning of 2020, so a year ago. We signed a contract with them in April 2020. They came up with recommendations to improve our procedures. This has been in the works since almost a year ago. Yes, it was implemented in December, but it's been in the works way prior to these incidents.