Online porn sites putting kids' safety at risk, EU says

A report released by the European Commission on Thursday accused social media platform Snapchat as well as four online porn sites of endangering children's rights and wellbeing by allowing them to access adult content on their platforms.

The Commission said underage users can gain access to the sites by clicking a button confirming that they are 18 years of age rather than being asked to provide reliable age verification.

Lack of serious oversight breaches EU digital rules and could expose the companies in question to heavy fines.

In addition to Snapchat, the European Commission trained its sights on Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos, accusing all of failing to adequately enforce age restrictions on adult content.

"In the EU, online platforms have a responsibility," said European Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen. "Children are accessing adult content at increasingly younger ages and these platforms must put in place robust, privacy-preserving and effective measures to keep minors off their services."

The Commission will now present companies with its preliminary findings, after which they are expected to take steps to comply with EU digital legislation.

Should companies fail to do so, they risk fines equal to 6% of their annual global revenues.

Tech companies in violation of EU Digital Services Act

Social media platform Snapchat has also come under scrutiny for similar reasons, namely whether the platform is doing enough to protect children and young people from accessing adult content.

The European Commission suspects the company of failing to prevent children from using the platform, exposing minors to myriad risks — including attempted cyber-grooming and criminal recruitment — according to a press release.

"From grooming and exposure to illegal products, to account settings that undermine minors' safety, Snapchat appears to have overlooked that the Digital Services Act demands high safety standards for all users," European Commission Vice President Virkkunen said in a statement. 

"With this investigation, we will closely look into their compliance with our legislation," she added.

The Commission's investigation is looking into whether Snapchat is enforcing its own minimum age requirement (users must be 13 to access the site), and whether it is taking steps to protect kids from predators.

The US company says it will cooperate with EU authorities while claiming to "raise the bar on safety."

EU online age-verification app in the works

Although Snapchat and other social media companies have set minimum age limits to bar individuals from accessing content, the European Commission has railed against steps taken so far as insufficient.

In response, the EU has scrambled to develop its own age-verification app, one that would allow users to confirm their age without having to share personal data with tech companies.

The app is expected to be available by early 2027.

Edited by: Sean Sinico