Passes, a direct monetization platform for creators supported by $40 million in Series A funding, was sued for allegedly distributing child sexual abuse material (also known as CSAM). The guidelines do not allow creators to post nude photos or videos, as opposed to competitors like only fans, but creators are suing pass, claiming they produced, owned and sold sexually explicit content featuring her when she was a minor.
The lawsuit filed by creator Alice Rosenblum was first reported by this information.
In addition to the company itself, the lawsuits came against Alec Celestine and Lani Zinoza. This is Lucy Guo, the founder and CEO of Pass, two individuals described as Pass’s “agents” in the lawsuit.
Rosenblum claims that each defendant is aware that she is a minor and that the company is said to own her sexually explicit content.
Passes said he was not involved with Guo and told TechCrunch that he had no “records or recollections” of Guo interacting with Rosenblum.
Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, the case highlights questions about how to distribute illegal content using the fan platform.
“The allegations in a lawsuit that intentionally courts content creators with the intentional purpose of posting inappropriate material are completely and completely wrong,” a Path spokesman told TechCrunch in a statement. “I can’t state this position more firmly. As long as there was fraud here, it is with Alec Celestine, the plaintiff’s talent manager.”
Celestine did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
Rosenblum claims that Celestin (formerly the director of Brand & Community at Fanfix, a similar creator platform) took care of it and instructed her to take explicit photos and videos at the age of 17. In the days leading up to this September birthday, Rosenblum claims that Celestine approached her with the idea of an 18th birthday marketing campaign to promote explicit images she claims she created as a minor.
Rosenblum further alleges that Guo stepped in to personally override the safety measures in the path that he claimed to have flagged her content as CSAM. A Path spokesman denied the allegation.
Rosenblum’s lawsuit describes Celestin as a “agent” with pass, but the company told TechCrunch that Celestin is “a former social media contractor who put in great effort to decorate our relationship with our company.”
Celestin has appeared in an Instagram post alongside Guo, including photos celebrating the milestone in the development of Pass.
Celestine has also linked the lawsuit pass from January 2024, with FanFix, Celestine’s former employer, accusing him of sharing the pass and the company’s secrets. At the time, Guo denied the claim.
“Passes is a nude-free platform,” the company told TechCrunch. “The assertion of passing will intentionally help distribute sexually explicit images – a few days before the creator’s 18th birthday, which is a honour-deserving loss and meaningless.”
The company is not sold as its only fan rival and instead works with mainstream celebrities such as NBA legend Shaquille O’Neill, NCAA gymnast O’Neill, and record producer Kygo.
In a blog post in December, Passes said it would strictly ban explicit content and scan violation posts using automated content moderation tools as their first defense. (AI is Guo’s specialization, co-founding Unicorn Scale AI). Passes says it employs trusts and safety teams to check flagged content and determine compliance with company guidelines.
“The plaintiff and her manager, Alec Celestine, eventually moved on to the sole fan. [Rosenblum’s] Content continued to flag our platform,” Passes told TechCrunch.
According to Passes, it uses the industry-standard tool Microsoft Photodna to automatically scan all images in CSAM. This is reported to the National Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), as well as typical protocols for online platforms. In a December post, Passes said Microsoft Photodna has not flagged instances of CSAM on the platform.
“MS. Rosenblum’s representative lawyer, Rodney Villazar, said: “Each defendant must respond to his actions in court, not social media.”
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