Four of the world's biggest pornography websites are facing formal investigations around age verification in the European Union. European regulators will determine whether Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos are doing enough to to protect minors from harmful content, as required by the Digital Services Act. Preliminary investigations already found that the four sites aren’t complying with two elements of the DSA, both of which focus on younger internet users.First, the EU finds that the sites aren't providing appropriate measures to “ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors.” This includes the companies not going far enough for age-verification methods suitable enough to stop minors being able to access adult material. Many of these sites allow access by entering a date of birth, which can be easily faked.The European Commission is working with EU member states to develop a “white label age-verification app” to help provide better implementation to access adult material. It says it will then use the EU Digital Wallet by the end of 2026.The second element of the investigation is whether the companies are including "mitigation measures of any negative effects" on kids who do manage to access the sites. Recommended by Our EditorsAll four sites were all given “very large online platform”designation at different stages since 2023, which means they’re under strict guidance in the European market. As part of this announcement, the Commission also announced Stripchat will be losing its VLOP designation later this year after a drop in users for the last year. But even when the VLOP title is removed, the company will need to abide by rules to protect minors.“The online space should be a safe environment for children to learn and connect,” said Henna Virkkunen, EVP for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy at the European Commission. “Our priority is to protect minors and allow them to navigate safely online."In a statement, Pornhub parent company Aylo says it's "aware of the European Commission's investigation and are fully committed to ensuring the safety of minors online.""Our sites are fully RTA compliant as rated by the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection, and are strictly reserved for those of legal age only. We will always comply with the law, but we hope that governments around the world will implement laws that protect the safety and security of users," it adds. "We believe that the real solution for protecting minors and adults alike is to verify users’ ages at the point of access—the users’ devices—and for websites to deny or permit access to age-restricted materials based on that verification."Aylo makes the same argument in the US, where it has blocked access to its sites in states with age-verification laws, though a VPN should help you get around those bans. Requiring people to provide things like selfies with government IDs to verify their ages will only drive people to less scrupulous sites, which "put minors and your privacy at risk," it says. #will #pornhub #get #blocked #europe