Pornhub and three other popular pornographic websites are under investigation by the European Union over alleged failures to prevent children from accessing their content.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, announced the investigation Monday into Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos over alleged violations of the Digital Services Act.
The commission’s preliminary investigation found evidence that the four sites failed to enact “a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors, in particular with age verification tools to safeguard minors from adult content.”
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The platforms allegedly failed to provide proper “mitigation measures of any negative effects on the rights of the child, the mental and physical well-being of users, and to prevent minors from accessing adult content, notably via appropriate age verification tools.”
“Protecting young users online is one of the key enforcement priorities under the DSA,” stated the commission. “Online platforms must ensure that the rights and best interests of children are central to the design and functioning of their services.”
The European Board for Digital Services is also taking action against “smaller pornographic platforms” in order to “reinforce the Commission’s effort to protect minors from harmful content online,” the EU noted.
Aylo Freesites, the parent company of Pornhub, said in a statement shared by The Guardian that the company is aware of the investigation and “fully committed” to the safety of children.
“We will always comply with the law,” stated Aylo. “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 National Center on Sexual Exploitation President Marcel van der Watt released a statement on Wednesday commending the EU for investigating the porn sites.
“The EU is right to investigate these pornography tube sites for not preventing children from accessing harmful pornography,” stated van der Watt.
“Mainstream pornography sites like Pornhub have hosted child sexual abuse material, sexual assault, rape, image-based sexual abuse, and nonconsensual content. Pornography tube sites can and should do more to ensure children cannot access this content and must be held to account.”
One of the most popular pornographic websites in the world, Pornhub has recently experienced backlash in the United States and abroad for its alleged profiting from videos showing the abuse of minors.
Multiple states have enacted laws requiring sites like Pornhub to implement better age verification for users, with the site blocking access in those states in protest.
Last December, a district court judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit leveled against Pornhub by an unnamed woman who claims that the site profited off of a video of her being abused as a minor.
