Pornhub and three other adult websites face EU child safety investigation
GuardianMAY 24
EU Launches Probe into Major Porn Sites Over Child Safety
Above: The age-restriction warning screen of the website PornHub is displayed on two digital screens, on Jan. 16, 2025 in London, England. Image copyright: Leon Neal/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
The EU's probe is long overdue. Big Tech and pornography platforms have repeatedly demonstrated callous disregard for child safety, prioritizing profits over protection while enabling predators and grooming vulnerable youth. These corporate giants cannot be trusted to self-regulate — aggressive intervention is absolutely essential to safeguard our children.
Establishment-critical narrative
Age-verification systems are fundamentally flawed technological Band-Aids that fail spectacularly in practice. Users simply migrate to non-compliant platforms or employ VPNs, while these invasive tools create massive privacy vulnerabilities and exclude legitimate consumers. The EU's faith in such demonstrably ineffective surveillance measures is profoundly misguided.