A new lawsuit has sent shockwaves through the influencer realm as a woman named Alice Rosenblum alleges that the celebrity-backed content platform Passes, co-founded by Lucy Guo, knowingly distributed sexually explicit material featuring minors — including herself.
The legal complaint obtained alleges that Passes — a subscription-based site where influencers, content creators and celebrities share exclusive photos, videos and livestreams with paying subscribers — was not just a space for social media stars to monetize their fan base. Instead, Rosenblum claims that the platform engaged in the illegal distribution of explicit content featuring minors, violating federal child exploitation laws.
The lawsuit specifically names Passes co-founder Guo, along with individuals Alec Celestin and Lani Ginoza, as orchestrators of a scheme that allegedly involved recruiting underage girls to create explicit content. The complaint claims that these images and videos were sold and distributed to paying subscribers on Passes both before and after the individuals involved turned 18.
“We are proud to be holding accountable those who sexually exploit minors for money and we will continue OUR efforts unabated,” Rosenblum’s attorney told us.
A representative for Passes issued the following statement in response to the lawsuit to PEOPLE: “Since its founding, Passes has worked diligently to foster a safe creator-first platform. We forbid the uploading and distribution of explicit content and actively work to identify and remove any image or video that is in violation of our guidelines. As with other creator platforms, there may be instances where individuals circumvent those features, but once we are made aware of an issue, we take immediate action.”
The statement continued, “We are committed to protecting all of our users, especially minors, and we have strict policies in place to enforce our guidelines. We continue to work to improve and further enhance the features of our platform in order to achieve our goal of being the safest and most secure creator and fan platform on the planet. The actions that have been alleged in the lawsuit are in violation of our platform guidelines, and we will defend ourselves vigorously against those claims.”
Guo has also denied any wrongdoing, calling the allegations “meritless” in a Sunday, March 2 post on X and insisting that Passes operates within legal and ethical guidelines. She has also distanced the company from Celestin, stating that he was never an official employee or agent of Passes.
“The lawsuit, at least as it is related to Passes AND myself, is utterly meritless,” Guo wrote on X. “Some facts: I I HAD ZERO interaction with the plaintiff (calls, texts, calendar invites, emails, etc). I do not have any contact information of hers.”
She went on to add that “we have always taken action on violations swiftly. Both pro-actively (when fake IDs are used, moms make accounts, etc) and when reports come in.” She also claimed that “nobody reported this account until recently, and we swiftly took action when it was reported.”
“I do not condone the actions described, and Alec Celstin was not an agent of passes nor was he ever an employee,” Guo continued. “We are confident the facts are on our side and look forward to presenting those facts in court.”
She concluded her post, “Passes is a safe platform for brand-friendly content creators, and we have strict policies to enforce our content guidelines. The conduct described in the complaint is a direct violation of our terms of service, content guidelines, and everything Passes stands for. Consistent with our policy, Passes took immediate action to suspend the flagged account as soon as concern was brought to our attention.”
The lawsuit, however, is not the first time that Passes has faced legal troubles. Earlier this year, the platform was sued by competitor Fanfix, which accused Guo and Celestin of engaging in unfair business practices and attempting to recruit creators using stolen confidential information.
