The Dutch media commission has fined a pornography company for failing to ensure several enacted rape videos were inaccessible to children.

The fine was initially set at €120,000 but later reduced to €75,000 because the company said it would go bankrupt if forced to pay the higher sum.

It is the first time the media watchdog has fined a company for failing to protect children against violent pornography. Neither of the two websites run by the company used any technology to stop youngsters accessing the material, the commission said.

The rapes, although acted, were so violent they could cause serious damage to children under 16 who saw it, the commission said.

‘The films could seriously frighten children and give them the wrong idea about the relationship between men and women,’ commission chairwoman Madeleine de Cock Buning told Radio 1 news. ‘We consider this to be extremely undesirable.’