A European Commission report released Thursday says Snapchat and four online porn sites are endangering children’s rights and wellbeing by allowing minors to access adult content without reliable age checks. The Commission found that underage users can bypass restrictions simply by clicking a button claiming they are 18, rather than being required to pass robust age verification.
The report names Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos alongside Snapchat as failing to adequately enforce age limits. The Commission says this lack of serious oversight breaches EU digital rules, including the Digital Services Act (DSA), and could expose the companies to heavy fines if they do not take corrective action.
“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 present companies with preliminary findings and expects them to remedy shortcomings to comply with EU law. Firms that fail to meet requirements risk fines up to 6% of their annual global revenues.
Snapchat is under particular scrutiny over whether it enforces its minimum age requirement (users must be at least 13) and whether it does enough to protect young people from risks such as attempted cyber-grooming and criminal recruitment. The Commission said account settings and exposure to illegal content may undermine minors’ safety. Snapchat has said it will cooperate with EU authorities and that it aims to “raise the bar on safety.”
In response to concerns about current age checks, the EU is developing its own privacy-preserving age-verification app that would let users confirm their age without sharing personal data with tech companies. The app is expected to be available by early 2027.
Edited by: Sean Sinico