The EU executive has launched an investigation into four pornographic websites over alleged failure to prevent children from seeing adult content.
After analysis of company policies, the European Commission accused Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos of failing to have effective age verification measures to stop minors accessing their content.
The investigation was opened under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a wide-ranging law to combat online harms, including disinformation, cyber-attacks, hate speech and the sale of fake goods. The act also includes tough provisions to protect children online, including preventing damage to mental health caused by seeing adult content.
According to the commission, all four platforms had one-click self-declarations to verify age, which it deemed ineffective to prevent under-18s from viewing adult content.
“Today is a good day for minor protection online in the EU, because with the enforcement actions that we are launching … against four very large online platforms with pornographic, adult content, we are clearly showing that we mean it when it comes to the effective protection of minors under the DSA,” an EU official told reporters.
There was no fixed timetable to complete the investigation, the official said, while stressing “a commitment to act relatively fast on potential next steps, depending on what the reaction of the platforms will be”.
The platforms could resolve the investigation by producing forms of age verification deemed effective by EU regulators. But if the complaint is upheld they could be fined up to 6% of global annual turnover.
Under the DSA, the commission regulates platforms with more than 45 million users, such as Google, Meta and X, while national authorities in the 27 member states are responsible for those below this threshold.
The commission said on Tuesday that Stripchat was no longer designated a “very large online platform”, after an appeal by the company, meaning its activities would in future be regulated by Cyprus, where its parent company, Technius Ltd, is based, rather than Brussels.
The investigation into age verification tools will continue, however, as the new designation does not apply until September.
Stripchat’s child protection obligations remain the same.
The parent company of Pornhub, Aylo Freesites, said it was aware of the commission’s investigation and “fully committed” to ensuring the safety of minors online.
“We will always comply with the law,” the company said. “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.”
Technius was approached for comment. A Brussels-based lawyer who has recently represented the parent companies of XVideos (WebGroup Czech Republic) and XNXX (NKL Associates) in EU legal proceedings was also contacted for comment.
