DSA: Porn sites Pornhub, Stripchat and Xvideos must meet strict requirements

From next week, the three porn portals Pornhub, Stripchat and Xvideos will have to fulfill the strictest obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA). In December, the EU Commission classified the adult sites as very large online platforms that are subject to special due diligence obligations. This refers to services that reach more than 10 percent of the EU population, or more than 45 million citizens in the member states.

Such services must submit risk assessments and minimize identified threats to democracy, public safety, fundamental rights and the protection of minors, for example. They are also required to share their data and information on algorithms with authorities, researchers and civil society organizations so that they can review their working methods and contribute to a situation report. The additional requirements will come into force for Pornhub on April 21 and for Stripchat and Xvideos on April 23, the Commission announced on Friday. They then had four months to carry out a risk analysis in relation to illegal and harmful content and to introduce special measures to protect children and minors.

Penalties of up to 6 percent of annual turnover

The recommendation from the DSA to introduce online age verification systems (AVS) to reduce systemic risks now also applies to adult sites. Such verification procedures are controversial. The Commission emphasized that it continuously monitors compliance with the regulations. If it suspects violations, it will take appropriate steps and use the full range of sanctions. Fines of up to 6 percent of global annual turnover and periodic penalty payments of up to 5 percent of global daily average revenue or annual turnover are possible.

Last year, the Commission initially named 19 services as huge platforms or search engines. These include Amazon, Apple, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter (X) and Google. The Brussels-based government institution initiated infringement proceedings against X in mid-December. Large adult portals such as YouPorn, Pornhub and OnlyFans initially claimed to be below the guidelines, but this immediately raised doubts. Since February 17, the DSA applies to all online platforms, regardless of their size. Since then, they have had to comply with general requirements such as the establishment of a user-friendly reporting and remediation system, a ban on targeted advertising to children and improved transparency reporting.

(vbr)