The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into four leading adult content platforms—Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos—for allegedly failing to prevent minors from accessing explicit material. The probe, initiated under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), aims to strengthen child protections online and reduce exposure to harmful content.
The Commission criticized these sites for relying on simple, one-click self-declaration methods to verify users’ ages. Regulators argue these checks are easy to bypass and do not effectively block underage access. An EU official said, “Today is a good day for protecting minors online in the EU. These enforcement actions show we’re serious about safeguarding children under the DSA.”
These four platforms are considered “very large online platforms” (VLOPs) due to their user bases exceeding 45 million people. As such, they fall directly under EU oversight. However, Stripchat recently won an appeal to be regulated instead by Cypriot authorities starting in September. The investigation will continue during this transition.
If the sites are found to violate DSA rules, they could face fines up to 6% of their global annual revenue. While no fixed timeline for the probe’s conclusion has been given, EU officials stressed their intent to act quickly based on the companies’ cooperation.
Aylo Freesites, Pornhub’s parent company, confirmed it is cooperating and highlighted the need for age verification at the device level rather than only through website prompts. The company said, “True protection begins on the user device, not just at the site.”
Attempts to get comments from Stripchat’s parent company Technius Ltd and legal teams for XVideos and XNXX were unsuccessful.
This investigation marks one of the first major enforcement actions under the DSA focused specifically on protecting children from adult content online. It may set important precedents for how the EU regulates digital platforms in the future.