«Pornocracy», made by Ovidie, a former French porn star turned director, claims that far fewer films are now being made and fees have been slashed up to 10-fold.
She blames «tube» sites—so-called because they resemble YouTube—which have been accused of hosting thousands of videos pirated from traditional adult entertainment companies.
Critics say children are also getting their first exposure to sex through the sites.
And they worry about the effect porn culture is having on the way teenage boys treat girls.
«Tubes» are also blamed for making porn consumption so commonplace that last week London’s transport system was forced to warn that people who watched porn on buses and trains would be reported to the police.
Children’s campaigner Marie Derain, an advisor to the French women and families minister, said the exploitive nature of «tube» sites was extremely worrying.
«Their economic model goes beyond even what is at stake in terms of pornography,» she told AFP.
Nearly all pirated
Gregory Dorcel, who heads Marc Dorcel, Europe’s third-biggest adult entertainment group, said 95 percent of the 100 billion porn clips watched on the web last year were pirated.
His company alone has made five million requests to Google for its videos to be taken down from «tubes».
«But 48 hours later the videos are back online,» Ovidie said.
Her documentary claims that a little-known company called MindGeek—headquartered in «an empty office» in Luxembourg—is now porn’s most powerful player, holding a monopoly-like grip on the industry.
