If they had hoped to escape, it was a failure! From next week, Pornhub, Stripchat and Xvideos will have to comply with the European regulation on digital services (DSA), under penalty of a heavy sanction.
VShas seen a scorch for Pornhub, Stripchat and Xvideos, the most popular pornographic platforms on the Old Continent, with the DSA (Digital Services Act) which came into effect on February 17. As a reminder, this new regulation aims to regulate “online platforms and intermediaries” accessible within the European Union. This list includes social networks, content sharing platforms, search engines, marketplaces, mobile application stores and even travel and accommodation booking sites. Initially, only “the very large platforms”, namely those which reach or exceed 45 million monthly users in the EU, have been ordered to comply with the DSA. Beyond this threshold, they must integrate access blocking mechanisms for minors, publish a directory of advertisements on their sites, or even communicate on their recommendation systems.
Among these major platforms have been named Pornhub, Stripchat and Xvideos. They had until the beginning of March to challenge their status with the General Court of the European Union, which they did immediately. This April 19, the European Commission delivered his verdict and confirmed that all three sites will have to comply with the DSA starting next week – specifically April 21 for Pornhub and Stripchat, and April 23 for XVIdeos.
X sites in Europe: obligations to be respected under penalty of sanctions
To escape its obligations, Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, claimed that the Commission had made an error in its calculations and that the platform actually only had 33 million visitors each month in the EU. Stripchat, for its part, had indicated a total of 32 million visitors. As for Xvideos, the site admitted to having 85 million Internet users per month on average, which left it with little chance of not being considered a very large platform.
The DSA “makes designated very large online platforms responsible for creating safer and more transparent online spaces”explains the press release. “They must effectively identify and address systemic risks, particularly when it comes to mitigating risks to the well-being of minors, amplification of illegal content, recommendation systems, etc.” Pornhub, Stripchat and Xvideos will therefore have to implement a user-friendly notification and action system, ban advertisements targeted to children and improve transparency reports. In the event of non-compliance with the DSA, sanctions include a fine of up to 6% of the platform’s global turnover. This is quite dissuasive…