LUXEMBOURG — The EU’s General Court on Wednesday ruled against Stripchat in a lawsuit seeking to annul a 2023 European Commission decision designating the site as a “very large online platform” (VLOP) under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Under the DSA, sites and platforms that reach at least 45 million monthly active EU users are designated as VLOPs, rendering them subject to more stringent regulations and fees.
Last year, Technius, the operator of livestreaming platform Stripchat, petitioned the court to reverse the Commission’s 2023 determination that the site was a VLOP.
The original classification was based on data from web analytics company Similarweb, which initially reported that Stripchat had more than the requisite 45 million EU users. The Commission eventually revoked the site’s VLOP status in 2025, after Similarweb reported lower numbers placing the site below the VLOP threshold and the Commission concluded that Stripchat's number of average monthly active recipients in the EU had been lower than 45 million for an uninterrupted period of one year. However, the company still sought a retroactive annulment of the earlier ruling covering the initial enforcement period.
Such an annulment could allow Stripchat to recover the supervisory fee it paid. An annulment could also potentially impact an ongoing investigation into possible past breaches of the DSA by Stripchat. In March, the Commission preliminarily found Stripchat to be in breach of DSA provisions intended to shield minors from adult content. Depending on how that case proceeds, the company could be subject to fines of up to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover, and/or penalty payments.
In its suit, Stripchat contended that the Commission used unreliable data when it classified the site as a VLOP. In its new ruling, the General Court rejected that argument, dismissed the action and ordered Technius to pay both its own and the Commission’s costs.
Stripchat can appeal the ruling to the EU’s Court of Justice.
