Porn site xHamster appeals case about illegal amateur images | Tech

Hammy Media, the publisher of xHamster, said it was “extremely surprised” by the court’s ruling. According to the publisher, a decision has been made hastily. Hammy Media also finds it very selective that a case has been filed against him.

The Online Child Abuse Expertise Office (EOKM) had started the case against xHamster. The agency received reports of people appearing in videos that they had not given permission for. This concerned, for example, revenge porn or images that were stolen after a hack.

But xHamster says it checks all uploaders and people in the picture. The website works with consent forms from the data subjects.

“At this time, only xHamster and a few other sites adhere to this protocol,” said a spokesperson. “All other websites offering public upload options violate the rules, but continue to be ignored by regulators.”

The case isn’t just about the porn site’s current policies. Since November 2021, xHamster has been using consent forms. But those forms are not there in the case of images uploaded before that time. And those videos must therefore be offline, says the judge.

“According to xHamster it is impossible to trace people from older videos who are in the picture,” says EOKM director Arda Gerkens. “If not, I’d say they should be removed.”

She also doubts that the website does enough to check images. “It may not happen knowingly, but we’ve had multiple complaints over the past year from people who were online without permission,” she says.

Gerkens believes that there should be no discussion about which images do and do not comply with the rules. “As a good porn farmer you have to want to make sure that no one can argue about the footage. We are not talking about a vegetarian eating a meat sandwich. This really results in victims.”

The judge ordered Hammy Media to make changes to xHamster. If illegal videos remain online, the site risks a fine of 10,000 euros per video that is online for too long. An additional EUR 500 per day is added, up to a maximum amount of EUR 30,000.

“They are free to appeal,” says Gerkens. “But I think the judge was quite clear. Now the procedure continues and it takes longer. Although this ruling stands in the meantime. XHamster must therefore remove images.”