Court orders xHamster to stop showing amateur pornography without consent

Pornography website xhamster.com was ordered to stop displaying amateur adult videos and images online if it is not clear whether permission has been granted by everyone who appears in them. A court in Amsterdam issued a preliminary relief ruling with the order on Wednesday in a lawsuit requesting an urgent interim decision filed by EOKM. The organization that provides research and expertise regarding online abuse, including cases where children are victimized.

Xhamster.com was given three weeks to remove videos where they do not have a record of permission by everyone involved. If after three weeks EOKM discovers that there are still images on the site with no proof of consent, a penalty may be imposed if the website does not act within three working days after it is notified.

The ban applies worldwide if the images portrays people residing in the Netherlands. Additionally, videos showing people living outside the Netherlands must be blocked from view in the Netherlands if those in the video did not grant consent. If the website fails to comply, it could face a penalty of up to 30,000 euros per video. The EOKM previously won a similar case against vagina.nl.

During the handling of the case, the foundation argued that it is unknown whether the women seen in the amateur videos have given their consent. Without evidence of consent, there is a chance that they have fallen victim to a revenge porn scheme or a hack. EOKM started the case after victims contacted the foundation requesting assistance.

One video on xHamster discussed in court was titled, “lieve pijpbeurt,” or "sweet blowjob" in English. There was a consent form included with the video, but it was from the man in the video whose face is not on screen, but his genitals are. The other person in the video, whose face is shown, did not sign the consent form.

Another video mentioned by EOKM is titled, “Fries tienerteefje,” translates as, “Frisian Teen Bitch.” That video has been viewed more than 100,000 times.

The lawyers representing xHamster argued that permission forms have been used since 2021. They said that since then, no videos are able to be posted without the required consent.

When asked by the judge whether xHamster.com finds it problematic that this may be the case regarding videos uploaded before 2021, the lawyers said that it is not relevant because it can no longer be screened. "There are too many videos for that."

The website had argued that taking all of the videos offline was simply not an option, and said during the earlier hearing that the demands were disproportionate. But if xHamster.com learns that someone is on their website against their will, they the site administrators "remove the video.”