[6][7] In early 2007, Russian citizens Oleg Netepenko and Dmitri Gussew (who publicly appears under the name Alex Hawkins)[2] decided to create a new adult video service,[1][8] and xHamster was launched on 2 April 2007.

[9] xHamster was envisioned as a social network; a spokesperson said the site's content organization scheme was intended to "allow people who wanted to chat, exchange erotic pics and share amateur videos ... to find mutual friends online and maybe discover partners interested in intimate relationships".

[14] In the aftermath of the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak, xHamster offered Debbie Wasserman Schultz a $50,000 role in a pornographic film with a Bernie Sanders lookalike.

[15] In August 2018, xHamster sent a letter to the creators of the television series Sense8, Lilly and Lana Wachowski, requesting to host the third season of Sense8, after the show was dropped from Netflix.

[24] xHamster provides various pornographic videos, photos and erotic stories grouped under categories catering to specific fetishes or sexual preferences.

[27] In reaction to growing demand for tech-related content, xHamster created a virtual reality platform to explore opportunities for VR techniques in the porn industry.

[28][29] xHamster also contains several social networking features, including user profiles, a commenting and rating system, and the ability to interact by adding others as "friends" or subscribing to another's content.

The post states, "Porn stars and amateurs alike depend on increased reproductive rights, access to birth control and low-cost STI screenings, and non-judgmental sexual health education".

[44] In May 2017, xHamster partnered with Dutch inventor Moos Neimeijer to create Minimeyes, a motion sensor Bluetooth device that uses infrared to monitor the room and signals the computer to shut all windows and sound when an intrusion is detected.

xHamster's Alex Hawkins stated, "As an international company, we see every day how restrictive governments use regulatory tools, like traffic throttling, to limit access to not only porn but political speech".

[56][57] As a step to promote "healthy relationship, sex, and consent",[58] the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) announced in January 2019 that it would require websites hosting pornography such as xHamster to implement "rigorous" third-party age-verification[59] prior to web entry.

[66] In Germany, in July 2021, cases have been filed by the Commission for Youth Media Protection (KJM) at a Düsseldorf court since 2020 requiring MindGeek's subsidiaries and xHamster to request age verification.

[71][72] After Pusha T accused Drake in a diss track of denying a child, xHamster noticed an increase in search inquiries over 2700% for the alleged mother and former porn actress Rosee Divine.

[75] In September 2016, Alex Hawkins, speaking for xHamster, confirmed that it had purchased a sex tape alleged to portray American actress Alexis Arquette, which was put up for sale by an ex-lover shortly after her death.

Censored from xHamster's website, the "infamous" sex tape features the hip-hop artist engaged in sexual relations with and urinating on an underage girl.

[78] After nude outtakes from a 2016 GQ Magazine photoshoot of Iggy Azalea were leaked on Twitter in May 2019, xHamster defended the rapper's right to prevent the images' widespread accessibility.

[79] More than four years after retiring from porn, Mia Khalifa remains one of the most searched female actresses on xHamster, with over 780 million views, according to a 2019 Washington Post article.

[81] Early in the COVID-19 global pandemic, xHamster offered free Premium access until the end of March to places affected by the virus such as Tehran, Iran; Daegu, South Korea; Wuhan, China; the Lombardy and Veneto regions of Northern Italy; and Adeje, Canary Islands.

[83] Following international quarantines, travel bans, and statewide stay-at-home orders in early and mid-2020, many sex toy retailers, livecam platforms, and streaming sites reported record traffic and sales.

[84] Coupled with this boom under quarantine is a marked shift towards amateur production on paid access platforms such as xHamsterLive Sex Webcams, FanCentro, and OnlyFans.

[88] Vice reported in 2020 that, according to first-hand research, xHamster used unpaid, untrained and anonymous volunteer moderators, who were observed arguing over what criteria could be used to identify a minor in porn footage.

Coupled with the widespread popularity of holiday and film-themed pornography, Alex Hawkins credits the recent Hollywood remake of The Grinch for the stark increase in searches.

[93] After a sex scene aired in an April 2019 episode of the television series Game of Thrones, xHamster reported a marked jump in searches for actress Maisie Williams and her character's name, Arya Stark.

'"[95] This supposed "ideal" woman has blue eyes, straight, dark, long hair, an "average" body size, "fully shaved" genitals, and is "not a feminist".

[96] The sudden popularity of pirate-themed searches, most common among 18-35 year old users, is largely attributed to International "Talk Like a Pirate Day", falling on 19 September.

[98] Amid the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, an article published by Vice cited data released by xHamster reflecting a surge of interest in police-related pornography.

Not only is web traffic increasing among women, but so is the amount of porn viewed on handheld devices, comprising roughly two-thirds of all xHamster viewership.

[104] A MEL Magazine article from 2020 cites Alex Hawkins statement that the "shift from studios to performer-producers" is "dramatically changing the industry", resulting in more "realistic" situations and "natural" body types in porn produced via mobile devices.

[105] xHamster's 2020 year-end report found that terms such as "natural tits" and "real homemade", and situations such as voyeurism and public sex "have experienced massive growth" in recent years.

Although nudity is officially banned on TikTok, the platform's monitoring algorithm is not perfect, sometimes leading to pornographic content being made publicly available for several hours before deletion.