Far-Right Pundit Claims Pornhub Makes People Gay or Trans

LOS ANGELES—Michael Knowles, a far-right pundit for the conservative Daily Wire, was the subject of a column last week by the journalist Christopher Wiggins of The Advocate, an LGBTQ+ outlet. In a recent interview for his show, Knowles platformed Sound Investigations journalist Arden Young discussing the latest release in the journalism group’s “Pornhub Tapes.” This new video released by the Project Veritas off-shoot asserts that pornography is being used to target minors with transgender content and even “convert” straight people into gay or transgender.  “Two major discoveries here. One, they know that kids are looking at their content,” Knowles said during the interview. “Yeah, we are trying to convert straight guys into looking at gay porn or trans porn.” Knowles amplified Young’s assertion that porn companies are systematically targeting their audiences of adult consumers, namely straight men, with methods to “turn them” gay and trans. There is absolutely no evidence of this or a greater conspiracy to do so. It serves as a further indication that the Pornhub Tapes effort is a smear campaign and a partisan wedge strategy to force a moral panic over pornography, LGBTQ+ rights, and the presence of content that deals with these communities, even when it isn’t “porn,” in the mainstream national culture. The Media Bias Fact Check indicates The Advocate has a “high” rating for factual reporting and a “left” bias. According to the same platform, The Daily Wire has a “mixed” rating for factual reporting and has a “right” bias. The Media Bias Fact Check website has yet to rate the Sound Investigations group. But it is staffed by members of the now-defunct Project Veritas, which is rated with “mixed” factual reporting, an “extreme right” bias, and is considered by Media Bias Fact Check as a “questionable source” that exhibits an “extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news.” Though Sound Investigations is a different group, the bias, alignment, reporting tactics and circulation plans are virtually the same as Project Veritas.