Brussels Takes Action: The European Commission today announced the initiation of a formal investigation against four major pornographic platforms—Pornhub, XNXX, XVideos, and Stripchat—for alleged failures in online child protection measures. These platforms are suspected of not implementing sufficiently robust age verification systems as required by the new Digital Services Act (DSA).
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Inadequate Measures for Access Filtering
Currently, a simple click to confirm that the user is over 18 years old is all that is needed to access these sites, which the Commission believes is far from adequate. “Our priority is to protect minors and ensure they can browse online safely,” reminded Henna Virkkunen, the European Commissioner responsible for digital sovereignty and the implementation of the DSA.
Adopted in 2022 and fully effective in 2023, the DSA mandates that “very large platforms,” defined as those with over 45 million users in Europe, identify and mitigate systemic risks associated with their services, including the exposure of minors to inappropriate content.
Among the four targeted sites, Stripchat might be removed from the category of very large platforms due to a decrease in its audience. However, this change in status takes several months, and in the meantime, the obligations of the DSA continue to apply. The other three sites remain fully subject to these rules.
An Investigation Without a Fixed Timeline, Yet with Significant Consequences
The launch of this investigation does not immediately imply sanctions, but it does initiate a dialogue between the European authorities and the concerned platforms. “It’s a first step,” stated a spokesperson for the Commission.
However, if breaches are confirmed, the consequences could be severe:
– Up to 6% of the company’s global annual revenue in fines
– A ban on operations within European territory for serious or repeated offenses
When asked about the link between the nature of the content (pornographic) and the initiation of the investigation, the Commission emphasized that the DSA remains “agnostic” about the type of content. The approach of the regulation is based on the assessment of systemic risks, particularly regarding children’s rights, the mental and physical health of users, or the proliferation of illegal content.
Brussels’ assessment is clear: these platforms have not taken the necessary measures to mitigate these risks, especially in terms of the protection of minors, one of the pillars of the DSA.