The website Motherless, where images can be found on a large scale that indicate abuse and sometimes even child pornography, has been running on a server in Steenbergen since at least 2024. But the website is hardly addressed. This is evident from research by NOS and Nieuwsuur. The website is hosted by Nforce, a hosting company in Steenbergen.
The company has often been associated with problematic and illegal content. Nforce director Simon Elimeleh confirms to the NOS that the company provides infrastructure services to Motherless. “We have no control over the content of the site,” he said.
According to Elimeleh, Motherless itself is primarily responsible for removing illegal images. “If customers consistently fail to do so, we may discontinue service.” The police can also be called in. Elimeleh emphasizes that Nforce removes child pornography consistently and quickly.
Website has been under fire for some time
The website has been under fire for some time, but received extra international attention due to research by CNN the Pelicot case, it concerns the French Gisèle Pelicot who was drugged and raped for nine years by her husband and dozens of other men. CNN found thousands of videos showing women being abused in their sleep. The Motherless site attracts approximately 62 million visitors per month.
Nforce director Elimeleh says that before the CNN publications he had no indications that the site was under scrutiny. “We have not heard from the relevant parties that the operator of this website does not cooperate in removing illegal content.”
Whether the CNN story means that he is now reconsidering the partnership with Nforce is unknown. He emphasizes that the Child Pornography Hotline, which now operates under the Offlimits flag, previously indicated that Nforce is ‘benevolent’.
According to the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), platforms and web hosts under the European Digital Services are obliged to tackle illegal content and protect minors. The regulator says it cannot take content offline itself and is now investigating, together with other European authorities, who is authorized to take action against Motherless.
Notifications and thousands of videos
Online abuse expert agency Offlimits received almost 142 reports about no fewer than 12,000 videos about Motherless this year alone, NOS writes. Of those 142 reports, 25 involved child pornography.
According to Robber Hoving, director at Offlimits, both Nforce and Motherless respond quickly to their requests. “But with so many signals, it seems to us that there is enough reason for a supervisor to look into this thoroughly.”
Nforce director Elimeleh states that the fact that Motherless is receiving takedown requests does not mean the site is necessarily bad. “It just shows that there is a need to notice that information, remove it and make sure that happens.”
‘Incest’ popular category
The NOS analyzed 20,000 videos that appeared on the front page of Motherless between Friday 1 and 7 May, and analyzed the tags that users mention. Incest was one of the most popular categories, with more than 1,000 videos viewed 60 million times.
The most viewed video in the past week, with 4.2 million views, is in the categories ‘incest’ and ‘rape’, together with ‘school girl’ and ‘sister’.