Twitter has been Blocking profiles of adult content creators in Germany since late 2020, with at least 60 accounts affected so far. The move comes in response to a series of legal orders by German regulators that have ruled that online pornography must not be shown to children and must be hidden behind an age-verification system. . The nationwide blocking of certain profiles in Germany is a rare example of a major social media platform bowing to regulatory pressure to make it harder for children to view pornography online. .
Anyone trying to view one of the accounts blocked in Germany will see a message saying the account has been “withheld” in Germany “as required by law”. The exact number of accounts blocked in this way is unknown. One porn account showing this message has more than 700,000 followers. As Twitter Without an age-verification system, it fulfilled legal requirements by completely blocking anyone’s account in Germany. Under German law, regulators said, Twitter accounts that post pornographic content cannot be accessed because there is no age-checking process to ensure that people viewing them are over 18.
The legal orders sent to Twitter are part of a larger crackdown on pornography in Germany. In July 2021, regulators threaten to block xHamster, one of the largest porn sites in the world. Legal proceedings are also underway against YouPorn, Pornhub and MyDirtyHobbyall owned by MindGeeks.
Marc Jan Eumann, president of the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz, the Committee for the Protection of Minors in the Media, or KJM, the agency that regulates child safety issues in Germany, said: “Pornography on social media is a problem. KJM first complained about Twitter Profile in September 2020. Eumann said that while it is important that everyone has “freedom of speech” online, it is “illegal” to distribute pornography without an age-verification system. “We are looking for dialogue with these companies,” says Eumann. “For example, Twitter blocked the pornographic profiles of German users after we initiated legal proceedings. We are indeed the first agency in Europe to do so and we will continue. ”
Twitter’s response to the German legal request has been to effectively remove tens of millions of people’s profiles. Anyone viewing the blocked profile will not be able to see the profile picture, profile, or any posts; If another account retweeted, these posts will also be blocked. An announcement from Twitter directs people to its explanation of why the accounts withheld in certain countries—Same message across all accounts blocked by government request.
But critics say Germany’s approach seems one-sided and lacks transparency. There are thousands of Twitter accounts that post adult content, and those that KJM reported to Twitter appear to have large followings or may be subject to personal complaints.
The social network’s rules on pornography, grouped under sensitive content, which requires accounts posting adult content to mark their profiles as sensitive. Adult content is restricted to people who don’t have a date of birth on their profile or are under the age of 18. Twitter also warns people before they click on pornographic material. Since Twitter does not have a proper age verification system, something that is required by German law, it seems that Twitter has no choice but to completely block certain profiles. Twitter declined to comment on the blocks in Germany and the problem of the age verification system.
