EU Commission designates Pornhub, Stripchat, and XVideos as VLOPs

The European Commission has designated Pornhub, Stripchat, and XVideos as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The decision comes after investigations revealed that these platforms have reached the threshold of over 45 million average monthly users in the EU.

Essentially, within four months, these platforms will have to comply with DSA provisions while also adapting specific measures to protect minors and address any systemic risks from their services. These measures include:

• Diligent content moderation where VLOPs are required to analyze specific systemic risks related to illegal content and threats to fundamental rights. They must provide risk assessment reports to the Commission, publicly disclose them within a year, and implement mitigation measures, including adjustments to terms, interfaces, moderation processes, and internal resources for risk detection.
• Protection of children, in which VLOPs must structure their services and features to safeguard children’s well-being. This includes implementing measures like age verification tools to prevent minors from accessing pornographic content online. Risk assessment reports should specifically highlight any potential harm to the mental and physical health of minors.
• Enhanced transparency and accountability measures, under which VLOPs must undergo external audits for risk assessments and DSA compliance. They must publish ad repositories, grant access to data for vetted researchers, and meet transparency rules, including biannual reports on content moderation and annual reports on systemic risks and audits. Additionally, they must appoint a compliance function and undergo yearly external audits.

Following their VLOP designation, Pornhub, Stripchat, and XVideos will be supervised by the European Commission in coordination with Digital Services Coordinators of the Member States where these platforms were established.

Why does it matter?

Following earlier calls for major porn websites to be categorised as VLOP under the DSA, concerns arose they were downplaying user numbers for regulatory avoidance. Moreover, the controversy over age verification between porn platforms and the government has led France to consider blocking Pornhub. Currently, visitors to these platforms don’t undergo a robust age verification process, but this may change soon after their designation as VLOPs.