BRUSSELS — The European Commission has initiated formal proceedings against Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos for “suspected breaches” of the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Commission announced in a statement Monday.
“The Commission's investigations into Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos focus on the risks for the protection of minors, including those linked to the absence of effective age verification measures,” the statement reads.
The Commission “preliminarily” found that the platforms do not comply with putting in place age verification tools to safeguard minors from adult content.
A Pornhub rep told XBIZ that the company is aware of the European Commission's investigation and is fully committed to ensuring the safety of minors online.
“Our sites are fully RTA-compliant as rated by the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP), and are strictly reserved for those of legal age only,” the rep said. “We will always comply with the law, but we hope that governments around the world will implement laws that protect the safety and security of users. 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.”
The Commission will now carry out an investigation to gather evidence, which may include information requests, interviews or inspections.
“The opening of formal proceedings empowers the Commission to take further enforcement steps, such as adopting interim measures and non-compliance decisions,” the statement notes. “The Commission is also empowered to accept commitments made by Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos to remedy the issues raised in the proceedings.”
As XBIZ reported earlier this month, the Commission recently launched a public consultation on its draft guidelines on the protection of minors online.
The Commission also announced that Stripchat will no longer be classified as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP). Under the DSA, sites and platforms that reach at least 45 million monthly active users are designated as VLOPs and are subject to more stringent regulations.
As XBIZ reported in February, XVideos, Pornhub, and Stripchat sued the EU over their classification as VLOPs, contesting the data used to determine their status.