Court decision: Internet providers can block porn portals

A court ruling has now clarified the long-disputed issue of compatibility between the protection of minors and freely accessible porn portals. According to the judges, the portals are obliged to ensure the protection of minors by carrying out age verification. If they do not comply with this obligation, the website may be blocked.

Porn sites inadequately protected

The court ruling has far-reaching consequences for a large number of websites with pornographic content that are accessible in Germany. Finally, all those who have not yet included a way of age verification must be afraid of being speared. Those who do not comply will be in violation of German youth protection laws. The obligation to provide proof of age is now based on a court decision by the Administrative Court in Düsseldorf. The case involved the NRW State Media Authority and the operator of a porn portal based in Cyprus. The Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia prohibited the porn website from further operation and has now received backing for this decision from the courts. However, this is initially only the summary proceedings. For a final verdict, we still have to wait for the main hearing.

Age verification is without alternative

It is hardly surprising that the Landesanstalt für Medien NRW is very pleased with the court’s preliminary ruling. After all, the consequence is that operators of relevant porn portals must now ensure that appropriate age verification takes place. Even if this is only a “preliminary ruling” on the part of the court, it should already be seen as a harbinger of the final verdict. After all, the judges’ assessment is already so clear in the summary proceedings that a deviation is very unlikely. For this reason, corresponding website operators should now set up a reliable age check if they want to make their Internet presence available in Germany as well.

Infringement threatens blocking

The reaction of the porn portals can now take two forms. The Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia, represented by its head Tobias Schmid, is calling for

“…the porn platforms again to immediately ensure the effective protection of children and adolescents.”

It is conceivably simple to comply with this demand. Thus Schmid continues to say:

“The only thing they have to do for this is to introduce an effective age control. Alternatively, they can also stop the distribution of the offer in Germany.”

Youth protection also applies to non-German operators

The operators, based in Cyprus, defended themselves against claims by the State Media Authority NRW. Especially in the area of youth protection, they argued, non-German operators do not have to act in accordance with German requirements. However, the court rejected the corresponding urgent applications. Thus, the protection is applicable even if the portals are not operated in Germany. In doing so, the Düsseldorf Administrative Court also made it clear once again that this would in no way violate EU law or even international law.

Country of origin principle does not apply

In the context of its emergency application, the Cypriot companies argued on the basis of their origin. Thus, it was the otherwise applicable “country of origin principle” that ensured that they did not have to bow to German youth protection. This legal principle states that website operators are only subject to the rules that apply in the country in which the website is operated. According to the judges, however, an exception had to be made here. After all, the protection of children and young people weighs far more than the country-of-origin principle. If minors were given barrier-free access to pornographic content, this would result in great dangers for the children themselves and for society as a whole. Accordingly, operators must ensure that only persons of legal age can access the content.

Imbalance in the media landscape

In terms of youth protection, the Internet has so far led a shadowy existence. Indeed, little to no attention has been paid to restricting freely accessible content. The situation is different for the rest of the media landscape. This is no longer in keeping with the times. Areas such as film, television and video games must also submit to extensive control mechanisms. Here, experts meticulously ensure that minors are really only provided with content that is appropriate for their age. This sometimes unfair consideration of various media is also lamented by the head of the State Media Authority NRW Tobias Schmid.

“If, on the one hand, we control every trailer on television, but confront children unfiltered with abnormal sexual practices on the net, we might as well let it be.”

Portal operators fear slump in user numbers

Certainly, the operators of websites with pornographic content cannot be accused of being completely indifferent to the issue of youth protection and only looking to profit from porn consumption by children and young people. While removing underage users would probably mean some loss of revenue, it would not be too severe. Rather, operators fear that the introduction of age verification would also eliminate a large proportion of adult users. Since the consumption of porn is still a taboo subject, many would not dare to disclose personal data. However, this would not be avoided in the context of a reliable age verification. So it remains to be seen whether a mediating solution can be found.

Similar dispute in the UK

As we recently reported, a similar discussion is currently taking place in the UK. In the UK, youth protectors are demanding that reliable age verification of users of porn portals finally takes place. Solutions are also being proposed to ensure that the reach of the portal operators is not significantly reduced, even with age verification. For example, a third-party provider could be responsible for verifying the age of majority. Following verification, this provider would be obligated to completely delete the personal data. The use of AI technology is also being discussed in the UK. In the meantime, there are ways to verify the age of majority based on the voice. Even if this method would enable anonymous age verification, its reliability must (still) be doubted.