Porn website shuts down, asked to cough up $2 million fine

An alleged adult entertainment website being operated from Nevada has been shut down and asked for a fine of $2 million. The website will be permanently shut down after an order by the federal court.

The US District Court for the District of Nevada has ruled against the operators of MyEx.com on June 15 as it violated the federal and state laws by posting intimate images and videos of people and their personal information without their consent.

The porn website was also charging victims a fee for taking down the images and the information. “We are gratified that the court ordered this site shut down for good,” Andrew Smith, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in the statement. “The defendants in this case harmed individuals by publishing their intimate images, and then victimied them again by trying to extort money to take the information down.”

A complaint was filed by the FTC and the state of Nevada in January. The website’s owner, EMP Media, Inc., immediately shut down the website post the complaint. The court also ordered the defendants to destroy all intimate images, videos and personal information from their servers.

MyEx.com was known to charge their victims a fee between $499 and $2,800 to have their images taken down from the website. The order further requires third parties to disable any website hosted for the defendants when those third parties have knowledge that the site posts revenge porn.

A settlement was finally reached and the fine needs to be paid to the court, and the website ordered to be shut down immediately and permanently.