Probe into lack of age verification targets Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, XVideos.
Credit: Getty Images | Leon Neal
European regulators have opened formal proceedings into Pornhub and three other adult platforms for suspected violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European Commission announced yesterday. Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos are accused of failing to prevent minors from accessing adult content.
“The Commission preliminarily found that the platforms do not comply with putting in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors, in particular with age verification tools to safeguard minors from adult content,” the EC said.
The regulatory body said preventing minors from accessing adult content with age verification tools is needed to prevent “negative effects on the rights of the child” and “the mental and physical well-being of users.”
The EC’s preliminary finding is based on risk assessment and audit reports sent by the companies and their replies to the EC’s requests for information.
“Protecting young users online is one of the key enforcement priorities under the DSA,” the EC said. “Online platforms must ensure that the rights and best interests of children are central to the design and functioning of their services. If proven, failure to comply with these requirements would constitute infringements of the DSA.”
EC threatens penalties, looks for settlement
DSA violations can be punished with fines of up to 6 percent of total worldwide annual turnover. The opening of formal proceedings means the commission will investigate further and could “take further enforcement steps, such as adopting interim measures and non-compliance decisions,” the EC’s announcement said. The commission said it could also “accept commitments made by Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos to remedy the issues raised in the proceedings.”
In a statement provided to Ars, Pornhub owner Aylo said 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 ASACP is a nonprofit that is funded largely by adult industry companies. It offers a Restricted To Adults (RTA) label for “any website that wishes to clearly and effectively label itself as being inappropriate for viewing by minors.” The label is supposed to make it easier for filtering software to block porn websites.
In the US, numerous states passed laws requiring age verification on porn websites. Pornhub and other platforms responded to the state laws by blocking access to their sites in those states.
Pornhub wants device-based verification
Pornhub’s website says it blocks access in US states with age verification laws because any effective method of verifying users’ ages “requires them to submit some form of personally identifiable information (‘PII), like a driver’s license.” This also “creates a substantial risk for identity theft” and “opens the door for the risk of data breaches,” Pornhub says.
Pornhub has said it is willing to use a device-based system that would “identify users at the source: by their device, or account on the device, and allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that identification.” This kind of system would mean that users are only “verified once, through their operating system, not on each age-restricted site,” Pornhub says on its website.
“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,” Aylo said in its statement today. “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.”
We contacted Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos about the EU investigation and will update this article if we get any response. XNXX and XVideos have the same owner.
Europe plans age-verification app
European regulators are pushing for use of an age-verification app that they say will be available this summer. The EC said it “is developing a white label age-verification app, intended to bridge the gap until the EU Digital Wallet becomes available by the end of 2026. The app, based on the same technology as the EU Digital Wallet, can be implemented by the Member States and then used by online service providers to verify if the user is over 18 without revealing further identity information, thus fully respecting their privacy. The app will be available by summer 2025.”
The four adult sites being investigated were previously designated by the EC as Very Large Online Platforms, meaning they had 45 million average monthly users in the EU. Stripchat has since fallen below that threshold.
An assessment by the EC “concluded that Stripchat’s number of average monthly active recipients in the EU had been lower than the relevant threshold for an uninterrupted period of one year,” the EC said. “Stripchat’s obligations as a Very Large Online Platform will cease to apply four months from its de-designation. General obligations, including the obligation to ensure a high level of protection of minors on its service, will continue to apply to Stripchat.”
Smaller adult sites are being eyed by regulators in individual European countries. The commission said that member states “are taking a coordinated action against smaller pornographic platforms” that “fall under the supervision of the respective national Digital Services Coordinators (DSCs) of the Member State where they are established.”
Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry.
