EU says Pornhub and others failed to stop minors accessing adult content

A major tech crackdown is underway in the European Union, with the European Commission accusing four prominent adult content platforms of failing to protect minors from accessing their services. The platforms in question, Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos, have been accused of breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA) due to their inadequate measures to prevent minors from accessing their content.

The European Commission's preliminary findings, which stem from a 10-month investigation, reveal that the platforms' current measures are ineffective in preventing minors from accessing adult content. The platforms' reliance on users self-declaring their age, coupled with the use of content warnings, page blurring, and "restricted to adults" labels, has been deemed insufficient. The regulator has demanded that the platforms implement privacy-preserving age verification systems to protect the wellbeing and rights of minors.

The European Commission's investigation also found that the platforms failed to use objective and thorough methodologies to assess the risks to minors accessing their content. Furthermore, the regulator suggested that the platforms' risk assessments disproportionately emphasized business-centric concerns, such as reputational damage, over societal risks to minors.

The accused platforms now have the opportunity to review the European Commission's preliminary findings and implement measures to remedy the alleged breaches. However, if the Commission confirms non-compliance, the platforms could face significant fines of up to six percent of their global annual turnover.

The European Commission's stance on this issue is clear: online platforms have a responsibility to protect minors from accessing adult content. The regulator is committed to enforcing the DSA and ensuring that children are properly protected online.