Dutch appeals court orders xHamster to remove unapproved adult content within 3 days

The international porn site xHamster must remove all adult content containing Dutch people who have not given permission for the content to be on the site within three days. The Amsterdam appeals court made this ruling on Wednesday in a case filed by online abuse expertise center Offlimits against Hammy Media, the company behind the porn site.

The appeals court went a step further than the initial ruling in this case. In April last year, the court ruled that the site had to remove adult content for which the participants had not given permission, but only after a video had been reported. The appeals court ruling says xHamster, a site where users can upload content, has to actively find and remove these videos.

According to Offlimits, the ruling applies to all content on the website, but in practice, it is especially relevant for videos from before October 2021. In that month, xHamster changed its terms and conditions so that uploads must be accompanied by a consent form. Worldwide, the ruling applies to videos featuring Dutch people who are not porn actors. In the Netherlands, it applies to all people who aren’t professionals in the pornography industry and who have not given permission for content of them to be online.

If Hammy Media fails to comply, it faces fines of 10,000 euros per video, increasing by 500 euros for every day that the video remains online. The maximum fine per video is 30,000 euros, and the maximum total fine is 500,000 euros.

Offlimits is pleased with the ruling. “It is often impossible for victims to remove footage from such large platforms due to legal costs and time,” director Robbert Hoving said. “Let alone if you are not even aware that you are on it. This ruling once again underlines that these types of images do not belong on the internet unless explicit permission has been given.”