Starting February, the EU will tighten the regulation of 3 porn sites! What does this mean for porn jobs?

The EU is also tightening the rules for porn jobs: the change also affects three porn sites

The EU digital services package now targets the three biggest websites with sexual content. It is still uncertain how exactly it will affect porn jobs, but there are already ideas.

Three adult sites, Pornhub, XVideos, and Stripchat, are affected by the regulation since the European Commission has extended the stricter conditions of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

According to the law, the Commission officially classified the sites in question as "very large online platforms" (VLOP) based on the number of users they reached, as reported in a press release.

This means that all three sites "reach the threshold of 45 million average users per month in the EU", so they must now comply with the required DSA obligations starting February 2024, according to their statement.



In order to be classified as a VLOP, websites must implement a number of measures, such as reducing the distribution of child sexual abuse content and their activities related to deepfake porn.

It is an important step in Brussels' efforts to crack down on the notoriously unregulated erotic industry amid growing concerns about lax age-checking mechanisms.

In addition, they are also trying to suppress the distribution of materials containing sexual abuse of children and revenge porn generated by artificial intelligence.

As cybersex and virtual sex work become more and more commonplace in everyday life, concerns about virtual reality sex are becoming more and more common:



In addition, they are required to regularly report on their content moderation decisions and generally have to comply with stricter regulations regarding the age verification of their users.

According to these strict conditions, a total of 22 companies and services have now been added to the list, including the sites broadcasting adult content that have now been added for the first time.

This time, the three porn sites will be subject to the same policies that apply to Google, Facebook, Instagram, or X (formerly Twitter), which have more than 45 million average monthly users.

Canada's Pornhub and Stripchat which provides a platform for webcam jobs, whose EU headquarters are also in Cyprus, said their monthly users fell short of the 45 million threshold, while Pornhub cited 33 million monthly users in the EU.

A senior European Commission official confirmed on Wednesday that, based on alternative data sources, the EU executive had "reasonable assurance" that the platforms' user count methods were flawed, and that both have more than 45 million monthly users.

However, in response to the decision, Pornhub rejected the Commission's assessment and maintained its original claim:

On July 31, 2023, Pornhub has an average of 33 million monthly users in the European Union, based on the average of the last six months

- it can be read in the statement.

The Commission says the list of companies tied to the strictest rules will expand, and other platforms, including OnlyFans and Telegram, may be added to the list.

In this way, a fairly large sector of erotic jobs may come under regulation, as online erotic content has been extremely popular in recent years.

Adult entertainment companies are notoriously difficult for regulators to rein in, but a senior European Commission official has confirmed that dialogue with the platforms is progressing well.

They pick up the phone when Europe calls.

- said the official.

Child protection in focus

The most important concern of the representatives is that, in the absence of adequate protection measures, minors can easily access pornographic content.

Under the EU's 2018 Audiovisual Media Services Directive, porn sites are required to ensure that minors cannot access adult content, but the rules are not effectively enforced.

33.5 bn visits on Pornhub in 2018. That's X4 how many we are on this🌍.

Pornhub, Stripchat & XVideos have a huge responsibility. As #VLOPs under the #DSA they must:

👉fight #illegal content eg child sexual abuse / #deepfake porn
👉protect #children eg with age-verification https://t.co/1rDAqG8r4s

— Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) December 20, 2023

One of the biggest obstacles for national regulatory authorities is also the lack of a robust technical solution to ensure that minors cannot circumvent age verification.

A French bill passed in October allows the government to block porn websites that do not have adequate age and identity verification measures to prevent minors from accessing their content.

Other countries such as Australia and the UK have struggled to find a solid technical age verification solution that also meets privacy standards.

This is how the possibility of face scanning entered the world of adultworks.

While VLOPs must comply with the strictest digital regulations on the block, from February all platforms and search engines will also have to comply with new rules to keep minors safe.

What does this change mean for adult work?

Legal, official porn jobs will probably not be greatly affected, porn actors can continue their erotic activities.

The purpose of the law, on the other hand, is to suppress already illegal sexual content in which children are sexually abused.

And cracking down on deepfake porn could protect people who didn't consent to the creation of such erotic videos — or even porn stars whose identities would also be used to create deepfake porn without permission.

Only time will tell how effective the legislation was, and what effect it had on adultwork.

Source: Euronews.com