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Pornhub, XVideos among pornographic sites facing EU probe for failing to protect minors
An EU executive said the bloc's countries will also coordinate actions against smaller pornographic platforms to protect children
The European Union (EU) authorities on Tuesday launched an investigation into online adult content platforms Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos for suspected violations of the bloc's rules to protect minors.
The European Commission said the companies were designated as “very large online platforms” under the Digital Services Act (DSA) in 2023, requiring them to tackle illegal and harmful content on their platforms and enforce appropriate mechanisms to protect minors from adult content.
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The EU's DSA designates platforms with at least 45 million monthly active users as “very large” ones and demands greater compliance to ensure users' physical and mental well-being.
According to Reuters, the EU executive said the bloc's countries will also coordinate actions against smaller pornographic platforms to protect children.
The EU Commission said the probe will “focus on the risks for the protection of minors, including those linked to the absence of effective age verification measures.”
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Lacked Proper Age Verification Measures
According to AFP news agency, all four platforms lacked proper age verification measures and could be accessed by just clicking a button stating that they were older than 18 years.
Violation of these rules enabled children to access adult content in violation of the EU's online digital content law. The platforms also did not enforce measures to prevent the negative effects of pornographic content on the physical and mental health of children and other users.
“Online platforms must ensure that the rights and best interests of children are central to the design and functioning of their services,” the EU Commission added.
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Henna Virkkunen, Executive vice-president of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said, “Our priority is to protect minors and allow them to navigate safely online. Together with the digital service coordinators in the member states, we are determined to tackle any potential harm to young online users.”
The launch of formal proceedings on Tuesday does not determine the probe's outcome, for which a timeline has not been set.
The EU has also invited public participation, including parents, to prepare guidelines for the protection of children online and is developing an age-verification app.
Reacting to EU probe, Pornhub owner and Cypriot group Aylo Freesites Ltd said its sites were RTA- (restricted to adults) compliant, as rated by the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection, and were strictly reserved for those of legal age.
“We believe that the real solution for protecting minors and adults alike is to verify users’ ages at the point of access - the users’ devices - and for websites to deny or permit access to age-restricted materials based on that verification,” Aylo told Reuters in an email.
