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Motherless (website)

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Motherless
Type of site
Pornographic video sharing
Available inEnglish
Founded2008; 18 years ago (2008)
Headquarters
Netherlands
Country of originUnited States
Area servedWorldwide
OwnerJoshua G. Lange
IndustrySex
ServicesPornography
URLmotherless.xxx
RegistrationOptional

Motherless was a pornographic image and video-sharing website.[1][2][3]

Ownership

[edit]

The website domain name was first purchased in 2005. The website and company were founded in 2008 by Joshua G. Lange in New York City. Lange owns several other companies, including DuloTech Inc. and real estate holdings, in a limited liability company.[4][5][6]

[edit]

In July 2011, Pink Visual filed suit against Motherless, alleging copyright infringement and unfair competition regarding record keeping requirements.[7] Motherless won the case under the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).[8][9]

Following the 2012 suicide of Canadian teenager Amanda Todd, the site was named in the Supreme Court of British Columbia during the 2022 trial of Dutch national Aydin Coban, who faced charges of extortion, possession and distribution of child pornography, communicating with intent to lure a child, and criminal harassment. He had uploaded topless pictures of Todd to the site.[10] He was eventually found guilty of all charges and sentenced to 13 years in prison; he was already serving an 11-year sentence in the Netherlands for similar offending.[11]

In 2025, UK regulator Ofcom began investigating the website's parent company Kick Online Entertainment S.A. under the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA), after receiving complaints about the presence of child sexual abuse material and "extreme pornography" on Motherless.[12] In February 2026, Ofcom fined Kick Online Entertainment £800,000 (US$1.1 million) for failing to implement age verification under OSA.[13]

In March 2026, CNN reported that the site was part of a broader online ecosystem of pornographic content purporting to show women asleep or sedated. According to CNN, the legality of some of this material was doubtful.[1][14] Following publication, some social media users falsely claimed that CNN had reported on an "online rape academy" where more than 62 million men had been taught to drug and assault their partners. However, 62 million was the total number of hits the site had received in a single month across all video categories, and the "academy" was a Telegram group to which a Motherless user had posted a link.[1][15]

On May 8, 2026, CNN reported that the site, whose servers are based in the Netherlands, had been taken down by Dutch authorities after facing public pressure due to the earlier investigation, although the homepage stated the site had been taken down voluntarily.[16] The site was restored a few days later.[17] In June 2026, a Texas court directed the domain name registry Verisign to suspend the domain motherless.com for violating Texas's age verification law.[18]

On 21 July 2026, the cybercrime team of the Zeeland-West Brabant police searched a hosting provider at locations in Steenbergen, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam, and seized servers owned or used by Motherless. The searches formed part of an international investigation led by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service into suspected criminal material hosted on the website, including child sexual abuse material and footage suspected of depicting women being sexually assaulted after being drugged. Authorities stated that the seized data would be examined with assistance from Europol and that investigators would examine both those responsible for uploading the material and the possible role of Motherless itself. No arrests were made during the searches.[19][20]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 Liles, Jordan (April 16, 2026). "CNN Reported on 'Online Rape Academy,' but '62M Men' Figure Misrepresents Findings". Snopes. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  2. ↑ Nguyen, Hoa (February 18, 2014). "Dave Herman, Former WNEW Radio Personality, Indicted on Sex Charge". Lohud.com. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  3. ↑ Beauge, John (August 6, 2021). "DA Drops Plans to Seek Death Penalty in Williamsport Murder-for-hire Case". PennLive. Archived from the original on August 6, 2021. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  4. ↑ Band, Jonathan (March 21, 2018). "Motherless Repairs Some of Mavrix Damage". Project-Disco.org. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  5. ↑ Bro, Sarah (April 27, 2018). "Pornography Dispute Sheds Light on DMCA Safe Harbor Defense: Ventura Content v. Motherless, Inc. and Joshua Lange". The National Law Review. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  6. ↑ Simpson, Dave (March 14, 2018). "Split 9th Circ. Tosses Porn Co. Copyright Suit". Law360. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  7. ↑ Pardon, Rhett (July 21, 2011). "Pink Visual Files Suit Against Motherless.com". XBIZ.
  8. ↑ Pardon, Rhett (August 3, 2013). "Pink Visual Appeals DMCA Decision in Motherless Case". XBIZ. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  9. ↑ French, Michael (October 30, 2018). "SCOTUS: Controversial DMCA 'Safe Harbor' Copyright Loophole Stays". AVN. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  10. ↑ Cleugh, Janis (June 11, 2022). "Explicit Images of Amanda Todd Were Shared on Porn Site, Court Hears". Beyond Local. TownandCountryToday.com. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  11. ↑ Little, Simon (October 14, 2022). "Judge sentences B.C. teen Amanda Todd's online tormentor to 13 years in prison". Global News. Archived from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  12. ↑ Ravikumar, Sachin (May 14, 2025). Young, Sarah (ed.). "UK investigates porn site operator Kick under online safety law". Reuters. Retrieved July 7, 2026.
  13. ↑ McMahon, Liv; Vallance, Chris (February 12, 2026). "Porn site fined £800,000 for not rolling out age checks". BBC News.
  14. ↑ Vandoorne, Saskya; Fox, Kara; Kennedy, Niamh; Stubbs, Eleanor; Chacon, Marco (March 26, 2026). "Exposing a Global 'Online Rape Academy' that is Teaching Men How to Abuse Women and Evade Detection". CNN. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  15. ↑ Lorenz, Taylor (May 6, 2026). "Debunking CNN's Viral 62 Million Men Hoax". Retrieved June 3, 2026 – via YouTube.[time needed][self-published source]
  16. ↑ Fox, Kara; Vandoorne, Saskya; Kennedy, Niamh (May 8, 2026). "Porn website at center of CNN investigation into sexual abuse taken offline". CNN. Retrieved May 8, 2026. The porn website Motherless, which has faced international scrutiny over hosting content linked to gender-based violence and drug-facilitated sexual assault, has been taken offline by Dutch authorities following mounting pressure in the wake of a CNN investigation.
  17. ↑ "Adult website Motherless back online after Dutch prosecutors flag sexual abuse content". NL Times. May 20, 2026. Retrieved June 1, 2026.
  18. ↑ "$9.14 Million Bond: Paxton Wins Court Order To Block Motherless.com Over Child Access". The Dallas Express. July 1, 2026. Retrieved July 7, 2026 – via Yahoo News.
  19. ↑ "Doorzoekingen in onderzoek naar website 'Motherless'" (Press release) (in Dutch). Openbaar Ministerie. July 21, 2026. Retrieved July 21, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Servers pornosite Motherless in beslag genomen bij politie-inval". NOS (in Dutch). July 21, 2026. Retrieved July 21, 2026.
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