Pornhub and two other pornography-hosting platforms will now face stricter content restrictions in the European Union, including the need to verify users’ age.
The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it had designated Pornhub, XVideos, and Stripchat as “Very Large Online Platforms.” The designation means that the websites will be subject to the Digital Services Act, a law that holds online platforms accountable for “harmful and illegal” content, requires them to be more transparent about their content moderation, and demands they take additional actions to protect young users from having their data abused. The DSA’s guidelines include the websites having to protect the rights of children and prevent youth from accessing pornography through tools like age verification. The companies will have until February 2024 to abide by the EU’s requirements.
“I welcome the designations of Pornhub, XVideos, and Stripchat as [VLOPs],” EU official Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. “It will allow for higher scrutiny and accountability of their algorithms and processes. The DSA demonstrates once again that it is an essential tool to ensure that technology respects the fundamental rights of European citizens.”
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The EU initially designated a collection of 17 websites as VLOPs and two search engines as “Very Large Online Search Engines” in April 2023. The list of established companies includes Amazon, the Apple App Store, Facebook, X, YouTube, and other platforms. No pornography-hosting websites had previously been designated as VLOPs. Many of the identified companies are pushing back in court, arguing that the VLOP designation should not apply to them.
The designation occurred at the same time that lawmakers in the United States and the United Kingdom are trying to require age verification for pornographic websites. Multiple states require users to submit copies of their government ID to verification websites to access pornography. Texas’s attempt at such a law was blocked in August by a district judge on First Amendment grounds.
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The United Kingdom also adopted the Online Safety Act in October, which will force platforms to take additional action against child pornography and to restrict youth access to adult content.
The EU opened its first investigation over DSA guidelines on Monday, when it announced that it was investigating Elon Musk’s X over its approach to Israel-Hamas misinformation.
