The adult entertainment giant does not want to be seen as a “ very large online platform “. And, to make it clear, he turns to justice.
By implementing its new regulations, the European Union is not sparing its Court. After the appeals of Apple and Microsoft, it is the turn of the platforms affected by the Digital Services Act (DSA) to try to extricate themselves from the new obligations to which they are supposed to be subject. And, it’s not just anyone, since the recent appeals come from the leaders of online pornography.
Do we really know how to count on the Old Continent?
It’s not just the police and protesters who disagree on the figures: adult content platforms and the European Commission have the same concern. For example, according to the latter, Pornhub is visited by more than 45 million Europeans every month. Significant attendance, but significantly lower according to Aylo, the Canadian giant which publishes the pornographic site, which rather evokes traffic of around 32 million visitors.
The difference is significant, since the figure put forward by the EU gives Pornhub the status of “ very large online platform » (VLOP), thus imposing obligations on it under the DSA. On the menu: new responsibilities for removing illegal content, the possible provision of an advertising database accessible to the public and strict requirements on age verification. Enough to make Aylo cringe, which has already been struggling against this type of regulation for some time now.
An industry that refuses to give in
The Canadian publisher therefore filed an appeal with the General Court of the European Union on 1er last March, explaining in passing: “ We believe that the European Commission made an error in its calculation of the number of our users “. And, justice will have to react quickly, because the DSA comes into full force on April 20, that is to say in a little over a month. As a reminder, platforms that do not take the necessary measures risk fines of up to 6% of their overall turnover.
Aylo is not the only company in its sector to dispute the figures put forward by the EU. Technius and WebGroup Czech Republic, which own Stripchat and XVIdeos respectively, are also affected and have filed similar legal action. It remains to be seen whether, like Apple and Microsoft, they will succeed. Across the ring, a spokesperson for the European Commission told the BBC that she “ fully supports its calculations regarding the number of Pornhub and Stripchat users “.
After the legislative battle, it is indeed the legal confrontation which takes over.
Source : BBC
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