EU investigates four pornography platforms over risks to children
The EU launched an investigation on Tuesday into four pornographic platforms over suspicions they are failing to stop children accessing adult content in breach of the bloc's strict digital content law.
The European Commission said its investigations into Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos "focus on the risks for the protection of minors, including those linked to the absence of effective age verification measures".
The commission, the European Union's tech regulator, accused the platforms of not having "appropriate" age verification tools to prevent children from being exposed to porn.
An AFP correspondent had only to click a button on Tuesday stating they were older than 18, without any further checks, to gain access to each of the four platforms.
The commission found that the four platforms did not have "appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors".
They also did not have measures in place to prevent negative effects on children as well as users' mental and physical well-being, the commission said.
"Online platforms must ensure that the rights and best interests of children are central to the design and functioning of their services," it added.
Pornhub's parent company Aylo said it was "fully committed to ensuring the safety of minors online", adding that "We will always comply with the law."
The EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) forces the world's biggest tech companies to do more to protect European users online and has strict rules to safeguard children and ensure their privacy and security.
Under the law, "very large" online platforms with at least 45 million monthly active users in the EU have even greater obligations, and they are regulated by the commission rather than national authorities.
Fearful over children's access to adult content, the commission said it would work with national authorities to make sure smaller porn platforms apply the same rules.
"Our priority is to protect minors and allow them to navigate safely online. Together with the digital service coordinators in the member states we are determined to tackle any potential harm to young online users," EU digital tsar Henna Virkkunen said.
The EU also said it would remove Stripchat from the list of "very large" platforms since it now had fewer than 45 million monthly active users on average, with its probe to focus on the period when it fell under its purview.
Brussels noted that the launch of formal proceedings did not prejudge the investigation's outcome, and that there was no deadline for its completion.
Violations, if proven, risk fines of up to six percent of a firm's global turnover. Platforms found guilty of serious and repeated violations can also be banned from operating in Europe.
The EU in parallel has invited the public including parents to help prepare guidelines for the protection of children online, and it is developing an age-verification app.
The DSA, which has a wide remit, sits within the EU's powerful legal weaponry to regulate Big Tech.
Brussels has opened a wave of probes under the DSA since 2023 including into Meta's Facebook and Instagram as well as TikTok and Elon Musk's X social media platform.
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Europeans seek 'digital sovereignty' as US tech firms embrace Trump
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Similarweb data shows the number of queries directed to Ecosia from the European Union has risen 27% year-on-year and the company says it has 1% of the German search engine market. But its 122 million visits from the 27 EU countries in February were dwarfed by 10.3 billion visits to Google, whose parent Alphabet made revenues of about $100 billion from Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2024 - nearly a third of its $350 billion global turnover. Non-profit Ecosia earned 3.2 million euros ($3.65 million) in April, of which 770,000 euros was spent on planting 1.1 million trees. Google declined to comment for this story. Reuters could not determine whether major US tech companies have lost any market share to local rivals in Europe. Digital sovereignty The search for alternative providers accompanies a debate in Europe about "digital sovereignty" - the idea that reliance on companies from an increasingly isolationist United States is a threat to Europe's economy and security. "Ordinary people, the kind of people who would never have thought it was important they were using an American service are saying, 'hang on!'," said UK-based internet regulation expert Maria Farrell. "My hairdresser was asking me what she should switch to." Use in Europe of Swiss-based ProtonMail rose 11.7% year-on-year to March compared to a year ago, according to Similarweb, while use of Alphabet's Gmail, which has some 70% of the global email market, slipped 1.9%. ProtonMail, which offers both free and paid-for services, said it had seen an increase in users from Europe since Trump's re-election, though it declined to give a number. "My household is definitely disengaging," said British software engineer Ken Tindell, citing weak US data privacy protections as one factor. 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But it remains a niche service. Signal , a messaging app run by a US nonprofit foundation, has also seen a surge in installations from Europe. Similarweb's data showed a 7% month-on-month increase in Signal usage in March, while use of Meta's WhatsApp was static. Meta declined to comment for this story. Signal did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment. But this kind of conscious self-organising is unlikely on its own to make a dent in Silicon Valley's European dominance, digital rights activist Robin Berjon told Reuters. "The market is too captured," he said. "Regulation is needed as well."
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Iran had vowed to retaliate. Now, it faces hard choices
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Araghchi's diplomatic outreach to European counterparts, to Arab leaders in the region, and to Turkey, was part of that effort, according to the two Iranian it failed. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran confirmed the U.S. strikes in a statement, saying that around dawn Sunday Iran's three nuclear sites, Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan, "were attacked in a violent act against international laws, including the Non-Proliferation Treaty, by the enemies of Islamic Iran."In a televised address late Saturday night in Washington, Trump said if Iran did not accept peace, more attacks would follow on more Iranian far throughout the war with Israel, Iran has refrained from direct attacks on U.S. troops and interests in the Middle East. But Iran's military commanders have repeatedly warned that American entry into war would bring former commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. 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Economic Times
2 hours ago
- Economic Times
Trump keeps world guessing on Iran strategy amid sudden shift to military action
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel President Donald Trump's handling of the Iran crisis is drawing scrutiny from diplomats and foreign policy analysts, following a pattern of conflicting public statements and unannounced strategic shifts that culminated in US airstrikes on Iran 's nuclear airstrikes, which targeted Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan on Saturday, June 21, came just two days after reports suggested Trump had given Iran a two-week window for further nuclear negotiations. That followed earlier signals from the White House indicating that Israel would hold back from unilateral strikes, messages that were swiftly upended when Israel launched Operation Rising Lion on June 13, targeting Iranian nuclear and military read: US President Donald Trump's step back on Iran pacifies nervous market The sequence of events has left global observers questioning whether the US president's diplomatic posturing is deliberately opaque or lacking internal a Truth Social post early Saturday morning, June 21, just hours before the airstrikes, Trump promoted his record of brokering peace across global conflicts, including efforts between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and cited his work on the Abraham Accords, India-Pakistan tensions, and Egypt-Ethiopia disputes. He suggested that his peace efforts have gone unrecognized by international within hours, US B-2 stealth bombers launched attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, signaling a sharp escalation. In the same post-strike update, Trump claimed the Fordow facility was 'gone' and called the attack 'very successful,' while also asserting that 'now is the time for peace.'The abrupt shift has raised doubts about whether Trump's administration is pursuing a coherent strategy or simply reacting to events on the ground. Diplomatic sources say there had been ongoing communication between US and Iranian intermediaries in Geneva as recently as Friday, June read: Trump weighs military action on Iran, to make a decision within two weeks, says White House 'This strategy of calculated unpredictability may serve short-term tactical goals,' said one European diplomat on condition of anonymity, 'but it erodes long-term trust in US commitments.'This is not the first instance in which Trump's statements have contradicted unfolding realities. Prior to Israel's Operation Rising Lion, Trump officials had suggested that Israeli strikes were unlikely in the near term. Instead, the operation began on June 13, catching several allies off the pattern appears to have repeated with the US itself. After hinting at diplomatic off-ramps and timelines for talks, the administration moved to a full kinetic strike with little public Iran signals possible retaliation, allies and adversaries alike are left navigating a volatile situation shaped as much by unpredictability as policy.
