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An offer by one of the world’s biggest porn sites to stream its top service for free was condemned by critics as a move to exploit the coronavirus crisis and silence complaints that videos on its platform featured sex trafficking victims.

Pornhub, a streaming platform for sexual content, has come under fire for allegedly failing to remove images and videos of child rape and sexual abuse on the site – claims it denies.

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An online petition to shut the site – which had over 42 billion visits in 2019 – now has over half a million signatures.

As cities globally locked down this week to stop the spread of coronavirus, Pornhub said it would let users watch its top product for free for 30 days, with its traffic already rising 11.6% worldwide since the pandemic confined workers to home.

“Pornhub … will offer Pornhub Premium to the entire world in an effort to encourage the importance of staying home and practicing social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic,” a Pornhub spokesman said in a statement.