EU to probe gaps in protection of minors on porn websites
On Tuesday, European Commission officials announced the EU's politically independent arm will investigate porn platforms Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos over alleged lapses in protection measures for minors. Photo by Will Oliver/EPA-EFE
May 27 (UPI) -- The European Commission said Tuesday it will look into major pornography websites in its effort to better protect young people under age 18 from lewd Internet content.
The EU's politically independent executive arm will investigate porn platforms Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos over alleged lapses in its protection measures for minors, European Commission officials announced Tuesday.
"The online space should be a safe environment for children to learn and connect," said Henna Virkkunen, a Finnish politician and the EC's executive VP of tech sovereignty, security and democracy.
It will center on age verification steps to keep minors away from adult content and will further examine how the porn platforms verify and mitigate risks.
A European Union official said Thursday during a press briefing that there is concern that current digital systems of self-declaration are not effective, adding that the requested info shows those in charge lack "an effective age verification system in place."
In addition, it also terminated its designation of Stripchat as a "very large online platform" after it reported fewer users than the 45 million-user threshold.
Meanwhile, there is no time limit to conclude a probe under the European bloc's Digital Services Act which can result in a hefty fine up to 6% of a digital porn distributor's global turnover rate.
Canada-based Pornhub is owned by Aylo Holdings, a subsidiary of private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners, formerly known as MindGeek after Ethical acquired it in March 2023 only to rebrand months later that August.
It arrived as the issue of protection on the Internet for minors has reached the EU's agenda for its 27-member country's and the European Commission.
"We are not excluding future expansion of the proceedings" into other issues under Europe's DSA like illegal ads or other content, an EC official told Politico.
The Commission said individual European national authorities will work hand-in-hand to oversee compliance on smaller porn websites under the Digital Services Board, with another saying local agencies are empowered to open joint investigations and "really kind of put pressure" on smaller pornography platforms.
"Our priority is to protect minors and allow them to navigate safely online," stated Finland's Virkkunen, adding that by working with digital coordinators in member EU states, "we are determined to tackle any potential harm to young online users."
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