The European Commission has opened a new investigation into Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos. The European regulator accuses the porn sites of not doing enough to restrict access to underage users, Engadget reports.
The European Commission says porn sites have weak age verification solutions that allow children to click a single button to "confirm" they are 18. Because of this, the regulator suspects the platforms are violating the Digital Services Act (DSA), which includes additional measures to protect children.
In a statement to the media, a Pornhub spokesperson said the platform is "fully committed" to protecting minors online, adding that the site has received an appropriate adult rating from the Association of Child Protection Sites. The spokesperson also believes that the real solution to the problem will be device-level verification, not system-level verification.
At the same time, European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier stated during a press conference that children should not have access to pornographic content, which is why the commission has launched an investigation.
The European Commission will then conduct an in-depth investigation, which could result in fines for porn sites of up to 6% of their global annual turnover if the platforms are found guilty of breaking the law. The regulator could also impose milder penalties or simply take legal action from the companies.
As a reminder, in 2023, Pornhub and an adult industry advocacy group filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas to block a law that required porn sites to verify users' ages before giving them access to content.