Regulators crack down on EU age assurance — self-declaration no longer enough

A hammer lifted will, eventually, fall. Websites and social platforms are starting to feel the sting of the regulators’ gavel in the EU, as the European Commission makes a call on adult content sites over violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA), and opens a new investigation into Snapchat over online safety concerns. 

A pair of releases from the Commission detail the charges. 

“The European Commission preliminarily found Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos in breach of the Digital Services Act for failing to protect minors from being exposed to pornographic content on their services,” says the first. “Despite stating in their Terms of Services that their services are for adults only, all four platforms allow minors to access their platforms by a simple click confirming they are over 18.” 

The preliminary findings are based on an in-depth investigation that included an analysis of  risk assessment reports submitted by Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos, as well as internal data and documents. 

“At this stage, the Commission considers that Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos need to implement privacy preserving age verification measures to protect children from harmful content.”

The platforms are also being taken to task for failing to conduct adequate risk assessment: “for example, the assessment disproportionately emphasised business-centric concerns, such as reputational damage, rather than focusing on the societal risks to minors, as required under the DSA.”  

As well, “in parallel, a coordinated action against non-compliant smaller pornographic platforms is being carried out by the national Digital Services Coordinators who are responsible for supervising them. This coordinated action aims to ensure that the DSA is enforced consistently across online platforms of all sizes in the EU.” 

Snapchat faces thorough investigation into grooming, vape sales

The second announcement, pertaining to Snapchat, says the popular social platform “may have breached the DSA by exposing minors to grooming attempts and recruitment for criminal purposes, as well as to information about the sale of illegal goods, like drugs, or age-restricted products, such as vapes and alcohol.”

The Commission will investigate the grooming concerns, as well as inadequate default account settings, dissemination of information on the sale of prohibited products, reporting protocols for restricted content – and age assurance. 

“According to Snapchat’s own Terms and conditions, users must be at least 13 years old to use the platform,” the EC notes. “The Commission suspects that Snapchat’s reliance on self-declaration as an age assurance measure is insufficient. It neither prevents children under the age of 13 from accessing the service, nor adequately assesses whether users are younger than 17 years old, which is necessary to ensure an age-appropriate experience. Moreover, the Commission suspects that the tool for users to report to Snapchat the presence of minors under the age of 13 on its service is not available to users on the app.” 

The Commission will now carry out an in-depth investigation, which involves “gathering further evidence, for example by sending requests for information to Snapchat and conducting interviews or inspections.” 

EU joins UK in active enforcement of online safety laws

The Commission’s enforcement measures come in the wake of penalties imposed by UK regulators, for failure to comply with the Online Services Act (OSA). In February, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) hit Reddit with a 14.5 million pound fine (about US$19.3 million) for not implementing robust age assurance. It has also levied fines for Imgur. 

The ICO has urged social media and video-sharing platforms to significantly strengthen their age assurance systems, and written directly to TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X, asking for information on how they intend to do so.

The European Commission now appears to be warming up to the hammer, as well. 

“In the EU, online platforms have a responsibility,” says Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy. “Children are accessing adult content at increasingly younger ages and these platforms must put in place robust, privacy-preserving and effective measures to keep minors off their services. Today, we are taking another action to enforce the DSA – ensuring that children are properly protected online, as they have the right to be.”  

Per the announcements, porn providers will now have a chance to respond to the Commission’s findings, and convince them not to issue fines. “In exercising their right of defence, XVideos, XNXX, PornHub and Stripchat now have the possibility to examine the documents in the Commission’s investigation files and reply in writing to the Commission’s preliminary findings. The platforms can take measures to remedy the breaches.” 

Article Topics

age verification  |  children  |  Digital Services Act  |  EU age verification  |  Europe  |  regulation  |  social media