Dutch Authorities Shut Porn Site Linked To Sexual Abuse Content After CNN Investigation

Dutch authorities have taken offline the controversial pornography website, Motherless, following growing international outrage over allegations that the platform hosted videos linked to gender-based violence and drug-facilitated sexual assault.

According to CNN, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service confirmed that prosecutors in Zeeland-West-Brabant had launched a preliminary investigation into the platform, while the site was shut down on Thursday evening.

The website’s servers were reportedly hosted in the Netherlands by NFOrce Internet Services, a company based in Steenbergen in the southern part of the country.

Public pressure mounted after CNN published an investigation exposing what it described as a wider online ecosystem involving Motherless and associated Telegram groups used to distribute videos of non-consensual image sharing and alleged sexual assaults involving unconscious women.

Previous investigations by journalists in Germany and Canada had also uncovered thousands of videos allegedly depicting women being raped or sexually abused while unconscious.

Dutch broadcaster NOS further intensified calls for action after reporting on the country’s connection to the platform. NOS and current affairs programme Nieuwsuur said an analysis of 20,000 videos featured on the site’s homepage revealed that videos tagged “incest” ranked among the most viewed categories.

The report also noted that one of the platform’s most-watched videos during the past week had been tagged with terms including “rape,” “sister,” and “school girl.”

CNN reported that at the time of its investigation in March 2026, Motherless hosted more than 20,000 videos categorised as “sleep” content, using tags such as “#passedout” and “#eyecheck.”

Although some of those tags had reportedly been removed following public scrutiny, CNN said content appearing to depict drug-facilitated sexual abuse remained accessible earlier this week.

In a statement issued Thursday, NFOrce said it had launched an “urgent compliance and abuse-handling review” and gave the website 12 hours to respond to concerns raised against it.

The company stated that it “does not operate, manage, moderate, or control customer platforms or their content.”

“Our role is limited to infrastructure services. Abuse handling is performed based on reports received through established legal and operational procedures,” NFOrce said.

The hosting provider added that specific URLs must be reported through “appropriate abuse handling channels” before allegations of illegal content could be reviewed and addressed.

The shutdown of Motherless is being viewed as a significant development in global efforts to tackle the spread of non-consensual sexual imagery online.

However, advocacy groups and technology experts have warned that such platforms can quickly re-emerge by moving to new servers or changing domain locations.

CNN cited the example of the website Coco, previously linked to the high-profile rape case involving Dominique Pelicot in France. The platform reportedly changed domains after coming under scrutiny before eventually being shut down.

Last month, a similar website identified as Cocoland.cc reportedly resurfaced online, with its domain registered in the Cocos Islands, an Australian territory.

French authorities have since opened an investigation into the new platform.

A representative of Cocoland.cc denied any connection to the former Coco website or its owner.

According to CNN, Motherless recorded nearly 82 million visitors in March, with most of its audience based in the United States. The platform had described itself as a “moral free file host where anything legal is hosted forever.”