A historic piece of digital content legislation that requires age verification and other requirements of big platforms is the subject of a lawsuit by Pornhub and two other adult websites against the European Union.
Pornhub, Xvideos, and Stripchat were designated by the European Commission last year as "very large online platforms" under the Digital Services Act, which places restrictions on websites with more than 45 million monthly users.
Brussels has identified 22 platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X, that are governed by these regulations. These include the requirement to set up age verification procedures to safeguard children and to compile a library of advertisements that are posted on the platforms.
Companies who break the rule may be penalized up to 6% of their worldwide sales.
The parent company of Pornhub, Aylo, said that because the website only draws in about 32 million visitors, the EU Commission had wrongly classified the platform.
“We believe the European Commission erred in its calculation of our user numbers. We also consider illegal the requirement … [that an] advertising repository must be made publicly accessible,” it said in a statement provided to multiple media outlets.
The cases follow suit from other legal challenges filed by German online fashion retailer Zalando and Amazon, who claim they don't fit the act's requirements for a very big online platform.
