AMSTERDAM — An Amsterdam appeals court upheld a lower court decision ordering xHamster to remove all footage featuring Dutch people who have not given explicit permission for their images to be posted.
As XBIZ reported, in April 2023 the District Court of Amsterdam ordered the Cyprus-based tube site to obtain consent from every Netherlands-based amateur model featured in videos posted on the site, or else remove those videos.
A Dutch activist group, Offlimits, alleged that some of the videos were nonconsensual revenge material or obtained via hacking, the Dutch News site reported.
xHamster was given three days to remove the videos or face a fine of €10,000 per video. The fines can go up to a maximum of €500,000.
Offlimits director Robbert Hoving told Dutch News that the ruling “underlines the fact that this sort of footage should not be on the internet unless explicit permission has been given. Porn sites should take more responsibility for ensuring everything is in order, for everyone who is pictured.”
The earlier judgment followed complaints made by another local nonprofit, EOKM.