Topline
The European Union is hitting three of the world’s largest porn sites with regulations under its Digital Service Act, implementing measures such as age verification and pressure to remove illegal content as the bloc adds the sites to its designated “very large online platforms” or VLOPs subjected to EU scrutiny.
Sites like PornHub and XVideos will have to implement measures such as age verification and removing … [+] illegal content from next year. (Photo by Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP) (Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images)
Key Facts
Pornhub, Stripchat, and XVideos are now designated as VLOPs after fulfilling the EU’s threshold of 45 million average monthly users in the bloc, and will have to comply with the DSA by February 17.
The platforms will have to allow users to flag illegal content; inform law enforcement if they receive information of a criminal offense involving a threat or potential threat to someone’s life or safety, including cases of child sex abuse; redesign their system to protect minors’s safety and privacy; stop targeted ads based on sensitive data such as a user’s ethnic origin or sexual orientation; and publish transparency reports on their content moderation process each year, among other provisions.
Within the next four months, the sites will have to adopt stricter additional measures to those under the DSA, including sending the EU independently and externally audited risk assessment reports on how it is handling the sharing of illegal content, such as child sex abuse, non-consensual material, and deepfake pornography; adopting ways to prevent illegal content from spreading; and using age verification tools to prevent minors from accessing the sites.
XVideos said as of February 17 it had 160 million average monthly users in the EU, while PornHub said in response to the designation as of July 31 it had 33 million average monthly users in the bloc—a number disputed by the EU, hence Pornhub’s designation as a VLOP.
NGOs have also disputed PornHub’s figures and urged the EU to regulate the site, writing in a letter in October that several porn sites’ user figures were “surprisingly small numbers that have allowed them to temporarily elude the designation as VLOPs.”
XVideos and Stripchat did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Key Background
Prior to the EU’s regulatory move, some countries in the bloc had tried regulating the sites, including France and Germany, through enforcing age verification, the Financial Times reported. In the U.S., some states have also tried regulating porn sites with age verification laws, including Mississippi, Virginia, Utah, and Arkansas. In April, the European Commission designated 19 sites, including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, as VLOPs and required them to comply with obligations under the DSA, which aims to protect users’ rights and safety on websites and online platforms, by August. Platforms that fail to comply with DSA regulations can face sanctions including a fine of up to six percent of its annual worldwide earnings or a ban in the EU. Since then, the EU has requested additional information from Meta, TikTok, and X over their handling of child safety risks and disinformation related to the Israel-Hamas war. The Commission opened its first formal investigation into X Monday, alleging it failed to tackle the spread of disinformation and illegal content on the site.
Further Reading
Musk’s X Faces Disinformation Probe In EU—First Under New Regulations (Forbes)
