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SARASOTA, Fla. — WebGroup Czech Republic (WGCZ), the parent company of XVideos, XNXX, BangBros and GirlsGoneWild, has reached a settlement with the state of Florida over allegations that the sites failed to verify the ages of Florida users before granting access to adult content.
The agreement requires WGCZ to implement age-verification measures across its platforms and pay $1.2 million to Florida’s Department of Legal Affairs.
The lawsuit, filed last year by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, named WGCZ, which operates XVideos.com, along with several affiliated companies. Those included NKL Associates, operator of XNXX.com; Sonesta Technologies, which operates BangBros.com; GGW Group, operator of GirlsGoneWild.com; and Traffic F, which operates TrafficFactory.com.
In the complaint, the attorney general’s office said it sought “to compel the pornographers to comply with their obligations under Florida’s age-verification law.” The filing also argued that every “knowing and intentional” violation of the state’s age-verification requirements amounted to an “unfair and deceptive trade practice” under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Under the terms of the settlement, WGCZ’s websites may use users’ IP addresses to determine whether a visitor is located in Florida. That provision will remain in place for five years, a timeframe that appears tied to ongoing concerns about users bypassing geolocation systems through VPN services — a practice lawmakers and regulators in multiple jurisdictions have increasingly tried to address through both legislation and technology.
