Porn viewers in EU may have to prove their age - BBC News Three of the world's biggest pornography sites have been told their users in the European Union may have to use age verification technology. Pornhub, Xvideos and Stripchat face stricter regulations because they have been assessed as having at least 45 million monthly users in EU countries. EU rules mean firms of that size have to take extra steps to protect children. It says that could mean the sites introducing age checking tech. "An example of efficient measures in this respect could be age verification tools, to prevent minors from accessing pornographic content," a spokesperson for the European Commission told the BBC. The spokesperson said one "potential" solution for a person proving their age would be the upcoming European Digital Identity wallet. "Once it enters into force, it will offer solutions for all EU citizens, residents, and businesses in the EU," they said. "Citizens will be able to prove their identity and share electronic documents from their European Digital Identity wallets with the click of a button on their phone." 'Higher scrutiny' The three sites have been designated Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA)., which brings with a raft of enhanced legal obligations, including in content moderation. EU Digital Commissioner Margrethe Vestager welcomed the companies' designation, saying it would "allow for higher scrutiny and accountability of their algorithms and processes". "I have been very clear that creating a safer online environment for our children is an enforcement priority under the DSA," she added. The BBC has approached Pornhub, Xvideos and Stripchat for comment. The porn sites will have four months to ensure they meet a series of legal requirements including: putting in place extra measures to combat the spread of illegal content, such as child sexual abuse material and deepfake pornography adding stronger protections against children accessing their sites, including with age verification tools ensuring that their risk assessments and their compliance with all the DSA obligations are externally and independently audited The EU Commission will be responsible for ensuring the sites meet the new, more stringent rules. It can fine them up to 6% of their global turnover if they fail to do so. These companies are the second batch of firms to be designated VLOPs. In April, an initial 19 tech giants - including Facebook, Google and YouTube - were told the new rules applied to them. For that initial round of companies, the DSA came into effect in August. One of them, X (formerly Twitter), was told on Monday that the EU suspected it of breaking its obligation under the DSA to combat disinformation - the first enforcement proceedings to be launched under the legislation.
It could be preventive for a short term period or even a mid-term. The point is, there will be ways to circumvent the block. And another thing : the social medias that are highly accessible without age restrictions like tik tok, facebook, youtube and others simillar already have soft stuff that is dangerous aswell. Do u think EU will take action on it? I'm not borned in any european country , then idk exactly how those decisions work and affect the day of an european citizen.
Idk mate. I think any restriction has to be a good thing. Especially to delay pre teens and teens from accessing porn. But it cannot be a solution, simply a step in the right direction.
This is such a slam-dunk, I don't understand why every state in America doesn't do it. 1) it doesn't restrict freedom of speech because you can still access it, and 2) it would (at least to some extent) prevent minors from accessing content that their parents are too foolish to restrict for them.
In America we want to restrict free speech, but we don't wanna restrict P. P is more important than your rights They wanna control u
I'm suspicious the fact that the entire developed world took the most chill approach imaginable to allowing children access to pornography is going to be looked at with great shame in a decade or two. Very hopeful things like this pick up steam to protect children.
It's good that age verification will be required so no children can consume these things—the same way it is for tobacco and alcohol it should be for porn. Will it work though? With how tech savvy kids are these days—cause they basically have grown up with smartphones implanted in their eyes and internet in their DNA since early age—I doubt it's gonna do that much. It's easy to just get a VPN and pretend to be from one of those countries that does not give a crap for unrestricted access. Just look at countries where porn is completely illegal (not restricted for minors like this but straight up illegal for everybody), everyone who wants to watch still watches as much as they want—these bans are symbolic at best. I'm sure it's gonna help a little bit though, if anything at least it will be a little harder to get for younger kids who are still too dumb to bypass it, which is always a good thing. But in the end of a day if we want to protect our kids it starts with taking responsibility for our parenting, and not surrogating the government to do our job for us.
sounds creepy to me. I doubt these "regulators" care about kids at all - its just another way for them to pocket $$$ from peoples data. and then use that data as blackmail when / if the need arises. if they really wanted to protect us they would shut down these sites. so many of them are guilty of sex trafficking and loads of human rights violations. its not even about "porn for the kids" at this point - these sites / companies have mob connections and its just ugly beyond words.
As well, most young children under 10 use their parent's account to access Youtube videos and the internet until they are between 10 to 14 when they get their own devices and accounts. For those children who share an account with their parents, How will they stop the children from getting access to Porn while still allowing the parents to access it. Worst of all, those are 3 of the biggest Porn sites that are affected. There are tens of millions of smaller porn sites which will be very difficult to block. My only solution is a keyword filter like Google's inbuilt "find on page" feature and then requests a password for limited time access if any NSFW words are identified.
