Huge fines for adult platforms? The EU is taking on Pornhub and Snapchat

The European Commission presented preliminary findings from its investigation into pornographic platforms: Pornnub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos. They show that none of the websites has an effective mechanism for verifying the age of users, which is why children can log in to them.

The EC also initiated a formal investigation into Snapchat for failing to protect minors.

The Commission accused adult websites of violating EU digital services rules (DSA), which imposes on online platforms, among others, the obligation to assess the risks they may pose to users and the obligation to protect minors.

The EC's preliminary findings show that the platforms have not identified or assessed the risk to which children are exposed to pornographic content on their websites. And even if they attempted such an assessment, they did not apply objective guidelines in the process and did not take into account the results of meetings with organizations dealing with children's rights. The EC noted that the platforms tended to focus on the fear of losing their reputation if it turned out that children had access to their services, rather than on how exposure to pornography could affect minors.

According to the EC, Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos did not implement effective mechanisms to prevent children from accessing their services. Even if they specified in the regulations that they were intended only for adults, – as the investigation found – all four websites allowed access to minors, it was enough for them to click on confirmation that they were over 18 years of age.

– Self-declaration cannot be considered an effective means of age verification – said the EC, adding that additional measures used by all four platforms, such as content warnings, “adults only” markings and page blurring, were not sufficient to prevent minors from accessing pornographic content. To prevent it, websites should implement effective mechanisms for verifying the age of users.

– If a 7-year-old from Poland can access your websites, it means that your age verification mechanisms are not working – EC spokesman Thomas Regnier said on Thursday in Brussels. He added that the Commission itself has developed a mechanism for verifying the age of users, which is now being tested in six Member States: France, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Belgium and Spain.

If the preliminary findings of the EC investigation are confirmed, it may issue a decision on violation of EU regulations and impose financial penalties on the platforms of up to 6%. their annual global turnover.

Also on Thursday, the European Commission announced that it had initiated a formal investigation into Snapchat, accusing it of failing to protect minors as required by EU digital law (DSA), which may have resulted in children using the platform falling victim to the so-called grooming, i.e. attempts by an adult to befriend a child in order to sexually abuse the child or persuade him or her to engage in criminal activity, for example. According to Snapchat's regulations, users of the platform must be at least 13 years old. However, the EC suspects that Snapchat, like adult websites, relies on the user's own declaration that he or she is of legal age, and not on objective criteria.

The EU is not alone in holding online platforms accountable. On Wednesday, a Los Angeles court ordered Meta and YouTube to pay $3 million in a landmark child addiction trial. The spokesman said on Thursday that the Commission is currently conducting four investigations into the use of addictive features by platforms, including pop-up notifications and user reward systems. The cases concern TikTok, Meta and e-commerce platforms Temu and Shein.

From Brussels Jowita Kiwnik Pargana (PAP)

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