LOS ANGELES—The Netherlands Public Prosecution Service and other Dutch law enforcement authorities have successfully ordered the takedown of controversial tube site Motherless.com.
The takedown appears to have occurred on Thursday. The Public Prosecution Office told several outlets that a preliminary investigation is underway to determine if criminal conduct was taken by the site's owners.
Dutch public broadcaster NOS confirmed that the Public Prosecution Service "took action" in response to its reporting and that of CNN in the United States. Per NOS, authorities ordered that NFOrce Internet Services, a Netherlands-based web hosting company, served as the web host for the content available to Motherless.com users.
Given the pressure, NFOrce informed the ownership of Motherless.com that its use was suspended until the resolution of an internal investigation of what it classifies as an "abuse and compliance escalation."
"Following recent media publications and additional internal review, NFOrce initiated an enhanced compliance and abuse-handling review relating to Motherless.com," reads a statement published by NFOrce.
NFOrce also published correspondence sent to the point of contact it has for the site.
"Given the seriousness of the matters raised publicly, including allegations relating to potentially unlawful, exploitative, or non-consensual content categories, NFOrce requires your urgent written response and confirmation regarding the matters outlined below," reads the correspondence that was sent and signed by NFOrce director Simon Elimeleh. "This review is being conducted as part of NFOrce’s ongoing abuse-handling, compliance, and risk assessment obligations as an infrastructure provider."
NFOrce said it gave the people who own the Motherless.com website 12 to 24 hours to respond to key requests made in the letter. The letter was sent on Thursday, May 7.
These requests from NFOrce include an "immediate content review and removal" and an audit of keywords, category tags and overall trust, safety and legal compliance.
"Failure to provide a complete and satisfactory response within the requested timeframe, failure to demonstrate appropriate remediation efforts, or failure to comply with applicable legal or contractual obligations may result in further review of the continuation of services, including possible suspension or termination measures where appropriate," Elimeleh said.
Motherless.com has long been a venue for illegal and non-consensual material and a platform rife with pirated content. But in light of the expansive exposés published by CNN and NOS, pressure mounted on authorities in the Netherlands to take legal actions against Motherless.com.
According to the CNN investigation, the scope of abusive and unlawful content on Motherless.com was considerable. In fact, it referred to the site as a part of a global "rape academy" which included group chats of men who encouraged and planned the rape of their wives and significant others. In part of the CNN investigation, the news outlet documented instances of videos featuring gender-based violence and drug-facilitated sexual assault, include "sleep" videos where subjects were assaulted while known or believed to be under the influence of drugs.
Other instances where Motherless.com has come under regulatory scrutiny include ongoing cases of the United Kingdom's digital regulator, Ofcom, pressuring the sites ownership to comply with age verification and other online safety provisions of the sweeping Online Safety Act. As AVN reported, Motherless was fined nearly $1.1 million by Ofcom for compliance issues.
Motherless is reportedly owned by Kick Online Entertainment, an entity registered in Luxembourg. However, Dutch authorities also take into consideration other unnamed affiliated companies to Kick operating out of other countries, including Costa Rica.
