EU Commission takes action against Pornhub, XVideos and Co.

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The European Commission has initiated proceedings against four major pornography platforms. Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos are said to have done too little to protect minors from pornographic content. This violates the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Commission announced. If the suspicions are confirmed, the companies could face injunctions or even fines of up to six percent of their global annual turnover.

According to the Commission, the platforms concerned do not have “appropriate and proportionate measures” in place to ensure a high level of privacy, security, and protection for minors. Specifically, Brussels criticizes the lack of effective age verification tools to prevent children and young people from accessing adult content.

Insufficient risk assessments

The platforms have also failed to provide sufficient risk assessments to identify and mitigate negative effects on children's rights and the mental and physical well-being of users, according to the accusation.

Further information is to be obtained and interviews conducted as part of the investigation that has now been launched. However, the companies concerned can also pre-empt this and undertake to rectify the problem. The procedures are based on the analysis of risk assessment and audit reports submitted by the platforms in June and December 2024, as well as responses to requests for information from the Commission.

Stripchat loses special status

In parallel to the proceedings, the Commission announced that Stripchat would lose its status as a “Very Large Online Platform” (VLOP). The platform had submitted a corresponding application itself after its average monthly number of users in the EU had been below the relevant threshold for a year. The special VLOP obligations end for Stripchat four months after the status change. Supervision will then be carried out by the Cyprus Radio and Television Authority.

In addition to the Commission procedure, the Member States are to take coordinated action against smaller pornographic platforms. These will fall under the supervision of the respective national Digital Services Coordinators (DSC) and will also be checked for DSA compliance.

EU age verification app in planning

As a technical solution, the Commission is developing a “white label” age verification app together with the Member States, which should be available as early as summer 2025. The application is based on the same technology as the EU Digital Wallet planned for the end of 2026 and is intended to enable age verification in compliance with data protection regulations without disclosing further identity information.

(mki)