Creator Startup Passes Hit With Lawsuit Alleging Child Porn
**Creator Startup Passes Hit With Lawsuit Alleging Child Porn**
By Kaya Yurieff
8 hours ago
Source: The Information
Startup Passes was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that the creator membership site founded by Lucy Guo distributed child pornography.
The complaint, filed by OnlyFans creator Alice Rosenblum in the Southern District of Florida, claims that Passes recruited young women that it knew were minors to create pornography before they turned 18 years old, and distributed that content to paying subscribers.
Passes offers ways for fans to pay for exclusive content from creators and celebrities, including actress Bella Thorne, "Dance Moms" star Jojo Siwa, and student-athlete Livvy Dunne. Last year, Passes raised $40 million in Series A funding led by Bond Capital. Guo previously co-founded artificial intelligence startup Scale AI.
A spokesperson for Passes called the lawsuit "untethered from reality," adding that there is "no record or recollection of Lucy [Guo] ever interacting with the plaintiff."
"Passes is a safe platform for brand-friendly content creators, and we have strict policies to enforce our content guidelines. The alleged conduct described in the complaint is a direct violation of our terms of service, content guidelines, and everything Passes stands for. Consistent with our policy, Passes took immediate action to suspend the flagged account as soon as a concern was brought to our attention," the company said in a statement.