In a story I can't quite wrap my head around since 2257 has been a law in the US for decades now, xHamster says that they haven't been checking IDs and that it cannot check whether the people who appear in the amateur adult videos from before 2021 gave consent for those videos to be published on the website. As far as the site is concerned, taking those videos offline is also not an option; at least, that's what they appear to have told an Amsterdam court. The website’s stance became apparent on Monday during a court hearing on a lawsuit filed by EOKM. The organization provides research and expertise regarding online abuse, including cases where children are victimized. EOKM argued that there are victims who do not want their sexual encounters to be featured on a pornographic website at all, saying they are being harmed.

In the court in Amsterdam, EOKM presented several examples of amateur films that “verified members” can upload on xHamster. The organization specifically referenced one video entitled, “Fries tienerteefje,” which has been viewed more than 100,000 times. The video’s title translates as, “Frisian Teen Bitch. EOKM also mentioned another, called, “lieve pijpbeurt,” or "sweet blowjob."

The foundation argued that the consent of the women seen in amateur videos is uncertain. These women could have been victims of revenge porn, or the footage could have been obtained by a hacker. A consent form was included with the second video, but it was filled out only by the man whose genitals are visible in the video. EOKM started the case after victims came forward using the foundation's helpline. The foundation demanded that videos be removed from the website if the site had not obtained the consent of all parties who appear on the screen.

Previously, a similar case was successfully litigated against the porn site vagina.nl. "The widespread violation of privacy rights is a major social problem."

The lawyers for xHamster.com said the foundation's demands were disproportionate. They argued that permission forms had been used since 2021, saying that it has been impossible to post videos without permission since then. 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 it is irrelevant because it can no longer be screened.

"There are too many videos for that." But if xHamster.com learns that someone is on their website against their will, they the site administrators, "remove the video.”

In 2020 Pornub faced a similar situation, and they did the only thing they could do: purge all unverified content from the platform. and banned all unverified uploaders. That included millions of videos. But that's something xHamster claims they can't do. The court will rule on the xHamster case on April 12. You can follow us on Twitter at @Fleshbot to keep up with the latest and greatest news about the porn biz.