XNXX, an adult content website, has been designated as a very large online platform (VLOP) by the European Union under its Digital Services Act (DSA). This comes after XNXX notified the EU that it had surpassed the usage threshold of 45 million regional average monthly users. XNXX is now the fourth porn site to gain this status, following in the footsteps of Pornhub, Stripchat, and XVideos, which were designated as VLOPs in December 2023.
The EU has expressed its intention to enforce stricter regulations on popular platforms hosting adult content, with a particular emphasis on implementing age verification measures to prevent minors from accessing inappropriate material. However, it appears that other adult content VLOPs have responded to this designation by simply asking users to self-declare their age, rather than adopting more robust forms of age verification.
In addition to adult content platforms, there are nearly two dozen other VLOPs operating in various industries such as e-commerce, social networking, and internet search. These platforms are required to comply with an extra set of obligations that aim to ensure algorithmic accountability and reduce negative societal impacts. These obligations include measures to empower and protect users online, prevent minors from accessing pornographic content through age-verification tools, provide access to publicly available data for researchers, and maintain a repository of ads.
XNXX has been given four months to comply with these rules for VLOPs, with a deadline set for mid-November. During this time, XNXX is expected to submit its first risk assessment report to demonstrate its compliance. Failure to comply with the pan-EU rulebook can result in fines of up to 6% of the platform’s global annual turnover.
The enforcement of DSA rules for VLOPs falls under the jurisdiction of the European Commission, which increases the regulatory risk for designated platforms. This centralized enforcement approach by the EU contrasts with the decentralized oversight of the general DSA rules, which involves various authorities at the Member State level. Previously, oversight of XNXX was carried out by the Czech Telecommunication Office.
The EU currently has ongoing investigations into several VLOPs, including X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, AliExpress, and Facebook and Instagram. However, no breaches or fines have been confirmed yet. The EU has been actively expanding the number of designations for VLOPs, with the initial 19 named in April 2023 now totaling 25. This demonstrates the Commission’s commitment to closely monitoring market developments in the online platform space.