THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch National Police Corps cybercrime team on Tuesday conducted raids on hosting companies in three cities, seizing servers owned or used by controversial adult website Motherless, as part of an investigation into possible illegal content.
The raids in Steenbergen, Rotterdam and Amsterdam were led by the Public Prosecution Service of Zeeland-West-Brabant.
A police news release stated that evidence from “various countries, including the Netherlands” suggests that Motherless may host “possible sexual offenses, including child pornography and footage in which women, presumably drugged beforehand, are severely sexually abused.”
“The data on the seized servers will be extensively examined in several phases in the coming period regarding the suspicion of these serious sexual offenses,” the statement continues. “This will be carried out in part by specialists from Europol.”
No arrests were made during the raid.
Earlier this month, a district court in Texas ordered domain registry Verisign to “lock” Motherless.com over noncompliance with that state’s age verification law. The website became inaccessible at that URL, but a version using a different top-level domain remained viewable and included a notice advising viewers about the change of web address. However, that version now also appears to have become inaccessible.
The site has also faced government and media scrutiny over videos featuring “sleep” content, meaning depictions of sexual acts involving unconscious or drugged women. A CNN report linked the site to what it termed a “global rape academy,” citing interactions on chat sites alleged to be frequented by Motherless users and stating, “The legality of some material posted is in serious doubt.”
The Dutch police investigation will presumably attempt to ascertain whether specific “sleep” videos on the site show actual nonconsensual sex. However, even videos simulating such acts may violate Dutch laws.
“An investigation will be conducted into the creators or perpetrators of the presumably criminal visual material,” the police statement notes. “Further investigation will also be conducted into the role of Motherless.”
