The European Commission (EC) accused four porn platforms of not taking enough steps to prevent minors from accessing their content. In its preliminary findings of a 10-month investigation, the EU’s regulatory arm said Pornhub, StripChat, XNXX and XVideos breached the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The EC said the platforms have an ineffective “self-declaration” measure – they require only one click from users to tell them they are over 18. Nor do efforts such as content warnings, page blurring and “restricted to adults” labels “effectively prevent minors from accessing harmful content.” As such, the Election Commission said that the platforms are failing to protect the well-being and rights of minors, and it demanded that they implement privacy-preserving age verification systems.
Furthermore, the EC said the quartet did not use objective and thorough methodologies to fully assess the risks to minors accessing content on their platforms. The regulator determined that StripChat, It also suggested that the platform’s risk assessment “emphasized business-centric concerns, such as reputational damage, rather than focusing on social risks to minors.”
Platforms now have a chance to review and respond to the Election Commission’s preliminary findings. They may also impose measures to correct alleged DSA violations. However, if the Commission confirms that the platforms have failed to comply with the DSA and it decides to issue a non-compliance decision, porn providers could be fined up to six percent of their global annual turnover.
“In the EU, online platforms have a responsibility. Children are accessing adult content at an increasingly younger age and these platforms must take strong, privacy-protecting and effective measures to keep minors off their services,” Hanna Virkkunen, the EU’s executive vice president for technological sovereignty, security and democracy, said in a statement. “Today, we are taking another action to enforce the DSA – ensuring that children are properly protected online, as is their right.”
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