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EU launches probe into major porn platforms over suspected child safety breaches

EU regulators will examine the platforms’ one-click age screens under new Digital Services Act rules that carry penalties of up to 6% of global turnover.

Overview

  • The European Commission formally opened investigations on May 27 into Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos to assess compliance with DSA child protection mandates.
  • Preliminary findings indicate that all four sites rely on single-click self-declarations without effective age verification or risk mitigation tools.
  • Stripchat was removed from the DSA’s very large online platform category after its monthly EU user count fell below 45 million, but the probe will still cover its prior operations.
  • Under the DSA, confirmed breaches can trigger fines of up to 6% of a platform’s global annual turnover and even EU-wide bans for repeated violations.
  • The commission is also preparing a privacy-preserving age-verification app for rollout this summer and coordinating national regulators to oversee smaller adult content sites.