Pornhub and other adult sites operated by Aylo, including YouPorn and RedTube, have suspended access in France from Wednesday, May 3.
The move is in protest of the country’s new age verification requirements.
Consequently, this means that French visitors to these sites are being shown a statement criticising the new law, which mandates adult platforms to verify users’ ages using personal details such as credit cards or ID documents.
Under current regulations, all adult websites in France must comply with the new verification system by June 7, 2025.
According to the owner of Aylo, Solomon Friedman, the law is ineffective and infringes on the privacy of the citizens.
“By showing the message rather than Pornhub’s vast library of adult content, Aylo ia communicating directly with the French people to tell them how dangerous, how potentially privacy-infringing, and how ineffective the French law is,” he said.
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Why France Passed New Law on Pornhub
The French government says the move is aimed at protecting minors from accessing explicit content and will be fully enforced by June 7, 2025.
Currently, users to explicit sites can click a box declaring they are over 18, but their age is not actually verified.
However, to protect user privacy, the French regulation requires adult websites to outsource age verification to a third-party service.
This system uses a method called double anonymity, where the porn sites receive only confirmation that a user is of legal age, without knowing their identity.
Additionally, the external provider verifies the user’s identity but does not know which sites they access or the reason for the age check.
Aylo says it supports age verification in principle but believes it should be implemented at the device level, not on individual websites.
Therefore, the company has criticised the French approach as potentially infringing on privacy and ultimately ineffective.
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France Hits back at Aylo
France’s Deputy Minister for Digital Technology, Clara Chappaz, defended the measure, explaining that the law did not target adults.
“We’re not targeting adults, but protecting children must come first. It is unacceptable to lie when you don’t want to respect the law. If Aylo would rather leave France than apply our law, they are free to do so,” she said.
On the other hand, Aylo is calling for age checks to be handled at the operating system level by tech companies like Apple, Google, or Microsoft, instead of individual websites.
According to Pornhub’s 2024 data, France is its second-largest user base after the United States.
Also, France’s digital and audiovisual regulator, Arcom, reports that around 2.3 million minors access adult websites in the country each month, accounting for 12% of all porn site users in France.
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