Kink.com, operated by San Francisco-based Cybernet Entertainment LLC, has been the subject of a range of lawsuits and legal actions over the past decade: performer HIV suits filed in 2015, employee harassment and retaliation claims, Cal/OSHA workplace safety citations, a cocaine arrest of founder Peter Acworth, and a 2025 privacy class action alleging the site shared users’ viewing data with Google. The outcomes vary. Some cases settled quietly, one was dismissed within five months, insurers won rulings that they owed the company nothing, and state regulators imposed penalties that reached six figures.
2025 Privacy Class Action Over Google Tracking
On June 3, 2025, two anonymous New York plaintiffs identified as S.H. and C.C. filed a proposed class action against Cybernet Entertainment in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The case, S.H. et al. v. Cybernet Entertainment LLC d/b/a Kink.com (No. 3:25-cv-04682), alleged that Kink.com embedded Google tracking pixels that transmitted sensitive viewing data without consent, including the fact that a user was watching a Kink video, the URL of the video, and the video’s title.1Top Class Actions. Kink Class Action Claims Porn Site Shared Users’ Viewing Habits With Google
The complaint called the arrangement with Google a “devil’s bargain” and asserted violations of the federal Video Privacy Protection Act and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, along with the California Invasion of Privacy Act, the California Unfair Competition Law, and New York state law. Additional claims included invasion of privacy, breach of confidence, negligence, and breach of implied contract.1Top Class Actions. Kink Class Action Claims Porn Site Shared Users’ Viewing Habits With Google
The case did not last long. At an October 23, 2025 motion hearing, Judge Vince Chhabria warned he would “impose sanctions if plaintiff’s continue to litigate the case recklessly.” A week later the plaintiffs filed a stipulation to dismiss, and on October 31, 2025 the court granted a dismissal without prejudice, leaving the claims theoretically open to refiling.2PACER Monitor. H. et al v. Cybernet Entertainment LLC
Performer HIV Lawsuits
The most prominent civil litigation against Kink.com involved three adult performers who alleged they contracted HIV while working on Kink productions in 2013. Cameron Adams, Joshua Rogers, and a plaintiff identified as John Doe sued Cybernet Entertainment in 2015, alleging the studio failed to test performers for sexually transmitted diseases before shoots, discouraged condom use, and allowed untested members of the public to participate in group scenes.3Hollywood Reporter. Judge Rules California Fund Doesn’t Have to Defend Porn Studio in Actors’ HIV Suits4Insurance Business Magazine. Insurer Battles Adult Actors’ HIV Claims
John Doe alleged that during a shoot for the series Bound in Public he was blindfolded and forced to perform oral sex on dozens of untested members of the public. He said he had a cut in his mouth during the shoot and tested HIV-positive two weeks later.5POZ. Porn Empire Must Defend Actors’ HIV Lawsuits
Cameron Adams filed her complaint on July 24, 2015 in San Francisco Superior Court (Case No. CGC-15-547035), asserting negligence, battery, fraudulent misrepresentation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She alleged that during a July 2013 production she was subjected to acts beyond her stated limits, kept bound for four to six hours, and sustained injuries including a dislodged breast implant that required surgery.6Internet Archive. Cameron Adams vs. Kink.com et al.
Kink.com’s attorney called all three sets of claims “easily refuted” by shoot records, testing protocols, and video footage, and noted that none of the allegations had been raised at the time of the shoots.5POZ. Porn Empire Must Defend Actors’ HIV Lawsuits
Reporting from late November 2017 indicated that the Cameron Adams case had already been resolved by Cybernet Entertainment, though no terms were published. The Joshua Rogers and John Doe cases were scheduled for trial in spring 2018, and no public reporting on a trial or settlement has been located.7AVN. Actors Who Allege They Got HIV on Kink Set Lose Insurance Appeal
Insurance Coverage Rulings
Two federal judges in the Northern District of California ruled that Kink.com’s insurers did not have to defend the company against the HIV claims.
On November 27, 2017, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers granted summary judgment to the California State Compensation Insurance Fund. She held that negligence-based claims were preempted by the exclusive remedy provision of California’s workers’ compensation system, and that intentional-misconduct claims fell within a policy exclusion for injuries “intentionally caused or aggravated by” the insured.3Hollywood Reporter. Judge Rules California Fund Doesn’t Have to Defend Porn Studio in Actors’ HIV Suits
On December 15, 2017, Judge James Donato ruled in Atain Specialty Insurance Company v. Armory Studios, LLC (No. 15-cv-05124-JD) that Atain owed no duty to defend or indemnify Armory Studios and Peter Acworth. Donato found the policy’s Physical-Sexual Abuse Exclusion clearly applied, and rejected Kink.com’s argument that negligent supervision was an independent cause. “The essential instrumentality and cause of the alleged injury was engagement in sexual acts,” he wrote.8Courthouse News Service. Atain Specialty Insurance Company v. Armory Studios, LLC, No. 15-cv-05124-JD
Employee Harassment, Retaliation, and Labor Claims
In June 2015, a former editor and production assistant sued Cybernet Entertainment. She alleged she was groped, fondled, and harassed by members of the public during a September 2014 shoot for the Public Disgrace series at the Folsom Street Fair, that the company failed to arrange adequate security, and that producers and human resources dismissed her complaints. She said she was laid off in retaliation. The company denied the allegations and called the claims frivolous.9BuzzFeed News. Porn Studio at Center of James Deen Allegations Is Fighting
An earlier 2013 lawsuit by former employee Maxine Holloway and three others alleged they were fired for attempting to organize Kink workers. That case was settled out of court. Former performers separately alleged they had been denied workers’ compensation after on-set injuries. Performer Eden Alexander said she was told she was “never, ever to even utter the words ‘workers’ comp'” and was offered a small payment by the company.10CBS News San Francisco. Ex-Kink.com Employees Allege Culture of Intimidation, Exclusion at SF Porn Factory
Cal/OSHA Condom Citations
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health cited Kink.com more than once for violations of the state’s bloodborne pathogens standard, which requires condom use during adult film production.
After an August 2013 inspection, Cal/OSHA issued three serious violations, two for failing to require condoms. Kink.com appealed, and an Administrative Law Judge upheld the citations. A second inspection on November 9, 2015 led to steeper consequences. On May 3, 2016, Cal/OSHA proposed $146,600 in penalties for 13 violations, two of them classified as “willful serious” for failing to require condom use in at least five films. The other 11 covered general safety issues, including unguarded table saw blades and improperly maintained first aid supplies.11PR Newswire. Cal/OSHA Cites Adult Film Producer Kink.com for Condom Law Violations
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation drove much of the regulatory pressure and, in July 2014, filed workplace safety complaints against Kink.com with Nevada OSHA over a Las Vegas shoot. Peter Acworth called that complaint “baseless” and argued that federal safety regulations designed for hospital laboratories were not appropriate for adult film sets.12AIDS Healthcare Foundation. AHF Files First Nevada OSHA Porn Safety Complaints Targeting Kink.com13AVN. Kink’s Acworth Responds to AHF’s Nevada OSHA Complaint
Peter Acworth’s 2013 Cocaine Arrest
On February 1, 2013, Kink.com CEO Peter Acworth was arrested for cocaine possession at the San Francisco Armory, the company’s headquarters. Police had come to the building to investigate reports of firearms being discharged in the Armory’s basement shooting range after a video surfaced on Facebook. No gun-related charges were filed. Officers found cocaine during their search. Acworth pleaded not guilty and was released on $15,000 bail. His attorney called the incident a “$60 mistake.”14NBC Bay Area. Drug Charge for Kink.com CEO Acworth15SFist. Kink.com CEO Arrested for Coke Possession
James Deen Allegations
Kink.com itself was not sued over the James Deen allegations, but the episode is often searched alongside the company’s legal history. In November 2015, Kink.com severed its professional relationship with Deen after multiple women publicly accused him of sexual assault. Performer Ashley Fires alleged Deen accosted her in a communal bathroom at the Kink.com studio. Stoya, a former girlfriend of Deen, alleged on Twitter that he engaged in non-consensual sexual activity despite her use of a safeword. Deen denied the allegations, calling them “false and defamatory.” A Kink.com spokesperson said the company was reviewing the accusations and planned to evaluate its “Model Bill of Rights” for performers.16Mission Local. SF Mission’s Kink Cuts Ties With Performer Accused of Rape