The European Commission has released a report accusing social media platform Snapchat and four adult websites—Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos—of putting children's rights and wellbeing at risk by failing to enforce adequate age restrictions. According to the commission, underage users can easily access adult content on these platforms by merely clicking a button to confirm they are 18, without undergoing reliable age verification, a practice that allegedly breaches EU digital rules and could expose the companies to significant fines.

European Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen stated, "In the EU, online platforms have a responsibility. 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." She further criticized Snapchat, claiming it has not done enough to protect children from risks such as cyber-grooming and criminal recruitment, and that the platform appears to have overlooked the high safety standards demanded by the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The commission will now present its preliminary findings to the companies, which are expected to take steps to comply with EU legislation. Failure to do so could result in fines of up to 6% of their annual global revenues. In response to these challenges, the EU is reportedly scrambling to develop its own age-verification app, designed to allow users to confirm their age without sharing personal data with tech companies; this app is purportedly set to launch by early 2027, though its effectiveness remains uncertain amid ongoing scrutiny of the bloc's digital policies.

Source: www.dw.com