Tue, 03 Jun 2025

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 Pornhub pulls out of France over age verification law

It's the latest setback for the world's most popular porn site, which is also under investigation by the EU.

* Pornhub and other adult websites owned by Aylo will no longer be available in France starting from this Wednesday.
* The decision comes after a new French law requires pornographic websites to take additional steps to verify users' ages, which Aylo claims is a privacy risk.
* Instead of verifying age on the website itself, Aylo believes that devices such as smartphones and computers should have built-in age verification capabilities like those found in Google, Apple, and Microsoft operating systems.
* This decision means that Pornhub's second-largest market after the US will no longer be able to access its content.
* The move follows similar actions by Aylo in other countries, including a number of US states where it has also withdrawn over concerns about age verification.
* As a result of increasing regulatory pressure worldwide, adult websites may have to implement more robust "age assurance" measures, which could include users providing credit card or government ID details to prove their age.
* The French minister for gender equality, Aurore Bergé, welcomed the news, stating that it would reduce access to violent and degrading content for minors in France.
* In the UK, a new law requiring "robust" age checks on adult websites is set to come into effect in July, which may include facial detection software that estimates users' ages.
* When asked whether Aylo would block its sites in the UK when the laws come into effect, the company did not respond.
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