Man with dark laptop – Photo by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels
(BRUSSELS) – As of 21 and 23 April, adult entertainment platforms Pornhub, Stripchat and Xvideos will have to comply with stringent obligations under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
The adult services are designated under the DSA as Very Large Online Platforms and as such need to comply with strict obligations including submitting risk assessment reports to the Commission, putting in place mitigation measures to address systemic risks linked to the provision of their services, complying with additional transparency obligations, including related to ads, and providing access to data for researchers.
These obligations start to apply to the ‘Very Large Online Platforms’ (i.e. online platforms with more than 45 million users in the EU) 4 months after the legal notification of their designation. For the three platforms at stake, the additional provisions will kick in on 21 April for Pornhub and Stripchat, and on 23 April for XVideos.
The DSA makes designated Very Large Online Platforms accountable for ensuring safer, more transparent online spaces. They must identify and address in an effective manner systemic risks, particularly when it comes to mitigating risks to the well-being of minors, amplification of illegal content, recommender systems, etc.
The Commission says it is carefully monitoring the compliance with DSA obligations by these platforms, especially concerning the measures to protect minors from harmful content and to address the dissemination of illegal content. If the Commission has suspicions of infringements of the DSA obligations, it will follow up with the appropriate steps, making use of the full DSA toolbox.
The Digital Services Act started applying to all online platforms (irrespective of their size) on 17 February 2024, who must since then comply with the general obligations, such as putting in place a user-friendly notice and action system, bans on targeted ads for children, and enhanced transparency reporting
Digital Services Act - guide
