The European Union on Wednesday added three porn sites to its list of online platforms big enough to be subject to stricter security regulations.
Adult sites Pornhub, Stripchat and XVideos now join the likes of TikTok, X or Facebook as designated “very large online platforms” — those with more than 45 million active users in the EU.
From the end of April, four months after the designation, websites will have to apply stricter rules, especially to protect children, under the new EU Digital Services Act (DSA).
The three new names on the list bring to 22 the number of giant platforms regulated by Brussels across the 27-nation bloc, according to a statement from the European Commission.
The commission will monitor how platforms comply with “measures to protect minors from harmful content and to counter the dissemination of illegal content,” such as images of rape or child abuse.
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“I have been very clear that creating a safer online environment for our children is an enforcement priority under the DSA,” said EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton.
EU Vice-President Margrethe Vestager said the design of the three porn sites “will allow for higher scrutiny and accountability of their algorithms and processes”.
“Very Large Online Platforms” or VLOPs are considered by Brussels to be “systemically important” due to their large scale and must demonstrate what they are doing to comply with the DSA.
In their first reaction to the news, Pornhub complained that the site had only 33 million average monthly viewers in the European Union in the six months to July 31 this year, short of the 45 million it would need to qualify as a very large platform.
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Violators could be fined up to six percent of their global annual turnover or even banned from doing business in Europe for serious and repeated violations.
Illegal content
Among their new obligations, VLOPs must analyze the specific threats posed to the rights and safety of Europeans by the type of content they publish and report to regulators.
They are subject to increased transparency, with the obligation to provide access to their data to EU-approved researchers.
They must also undergo, at their own expense, an external audit once a year to verify that they comply with European rules.
Platforms must agree to act “immediately” to remove any illegal content upon becoming aware of it and to notify law enforcement if they detect serious criminal offenses in content submitted online.
They are prohibited from exploiting sensitive user dates such as political leanings or religious affiliation for targeted advertising and must be transparent about how their algorithms recommend content.
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No company has yet been found guilty of breaching the new EU content rules.
But on Monday, Brussels opened the first “official investigation” under the DSA targeting multi-billionaire tech tycoon Elon Musk’s social network X, the rebranded Twitter.
Various preliminary investigations have also been launched in recent months against Apple, Google, Facebook and Instagram, parent Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Amazon.
Source: AFP