Pornhub withdraws from France as age verfication checks get too intrusive

[midian182]

What just happened? Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, Youporn, Redtube, and other adult entertainment brands, is suspending its services in France in protest over the country's age verification law. The company already blocks access to residents of several US states over the same issue.

On June 7, porn platforms in France will legally be required to implement age verification systems. The law is part of a set of measures France passed in 2023 to protect minors from inappropriate online content.

Websites hosting pornographic content will need to verify French visitors' ages using a credit card or government-issued ID document. The operators must offer a double-blind option from a third-party that theoretically protects users' anonymity from the platforms themselves.

But, as has long been the case in the US, Aylo claims that this method places people's data at risk from bad actors, hacks or leaks.

Solomon Friedman, a partner at private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners, which bought Aylo in 2023, told reporters that the French law was "dangerous," "potentially privacy infringing" and "ineffective."

"It's a matter of putting our values first, and that means communicating directly with the French people to tell them what their government is refusing to tell them," Friedman said, as reported by Politico.

Aylo has repeatedly said it supports age verification but believes this should take place at the device level. It said Google, Apple, and Microsoft all have the capability built into their operating systems to verify ages, and that countries should target these companies.

Aylo also argues that these laws are ineffective and drive users to less secure websites that do not implement age verification, potentially exposing them to unregulated content and increased privacy risks.

Clara Chappaz, France's Minister of State for Digital Affairs, accused Aylo of lying because it does not want to respect the law.

"Adults are free to consume porn, but not at the expense of protecting our children," Chappaz wrote in an X post, according to an English translation. "Asking pornographic sites to verify the age of their users is not about stigmatizing adults, but about protecting our children."

"If Aylo prefers to leave France rather than apply our law, that's up to them."

Le référentiel de l'Arcom garantit la vie privée avec le double anonymat.
Mentir quand on ne veut pas respecter la loi et prendre en otage, c'est inadmissible. Les adultes sont libres de consommer du porno mais pas au détriment de la protection de nos enfants.

Demander aux… https://t.co/vwYvJsnKOv

– Clara Chappaz (@ClaraChappaz) June 3, 2025

France is Pornhub's largest market behind the US, and while accessing blocked sites is usually just a matter of using a VPN, leaving the country will likely have an impact on Aylo's bottom line. According to the firm's own stats, the most searched term in France was "francaise" (French) by a wide margin, showing users were interested in their own kind, both language and people, apparently.

Aylo no longer offers access to residents in a number of US states over their introduction of age verification laws, including Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, Utah, Montana, North Carolina, and many others, with more expected to introduce similar rules in the future.

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Pornhub withdraws from France as age verfication checks get too intrusive

 

[candle86]

Quite interesting that these important companies especially this one are so totally obsessive making sure that miners have access to it they must want to groom children maybe we should look into them a lot more closely

 

[Ashford]

Quite interesting that these important companies especially this one are so totally obsessive making sure that miners have access to it they must want to groom children maybe we should look into them a lot more closely

I don't see how a miner playing with his pick is any of your concern... dare I say, you're going down a dark hole.

 

[kira setsu]

With how the worlds govt's are of course this isn't about "the children". they dont give one single f*** about kids. they're up to something, always have been, always will be.

if it was you'd have to do all this verification nonsense on literally any object that has search engine access all the time. a kid can google the word boobs and turn off safesearch and get access to sites with way more than pornhub.

if anything just like the fight against movie piracy all this does is get people to find more and sometimes better(or more malicious)ways to access the content they crave.

 

[jonny888]

Quite interesting that these important companies especially this one are so totally obsessive making sure that miners have access to it they must want to groom children maybe we should look into them a lot more closely

* minors
Unless you're particularly worried about the underground workforce.

 

[fadingfool]

Can we just make the whole internet over 18s only?

 

[torvuswalds]

Quite interesting that these important companies especially this one are so totally obsessive making sure that miners have access to it they must want to groom children maybe we should look into them a lot more closely

I don't think that's it my guy, if the government/French government really cared about children they would be doing a lot more to protect them from violence and predatory adults, there is a legitimate concern for identities being stolen by third party apps being hacked especially on such a public facing website. Someone down below made a really good point, its 2025, there are so many AI sites and P0rn sites out there that they literally just have to enter into a google image search and turn off the safety feature and boom, its WAY more than just Pornhub. So while it might seem performative it just shows that the governments are just more interested in controlling what content their citizens consume.

 

[stewi0001]

If you really want to keep children away from pornography websites, it really comes down to parents working with their kids. I say this a lot, if there is a will, there is a way. Kids and/or MINERs (yes I'm joining the running gag) who want to bypass the age restriction will find ways. They could steal their parents ID/credit cards, VPN, download torrents, etc etc.

So if you really want to solve some problems, strengthen the family.
Just my opinion.

 

[human7]

If you really want to keep children away from pornography websites, it really comes down to parents working with their kids. I say this a lot, if there is a will, there is a way. Kids and/or MINERs (yes I'm joining the running gag) who want to bypass the age restriction will find ways. They could steal their parents ID/credit cards, VPN, download torrents, etc etc.

So if you really want to solve some problems, strengthen the family.
Just my opinion.

Yeah. It seems like a dangerous game for governments to decide which forms of protected speech are suitable for different groups of people, too. It's easy to make the argument that the government should be "protecting children from adult content", but there's not a whole lot, legally, between that and adding more hoops for adults to jump through to access some content, or for the laws to be categorically expanded to all sorts of other content.

 

[candle86]

Yeah. It seems like a dangerous game for governments to decide which forms of protected speech are suitable for different groups of people, too. It's easy to make the argument that the government should be "protecting children from adult content", but there's not a whole lot, legally, between that and adding more hoops for adults to jump through to access some content, or for the laws to be categorically expanded to all sorts of other content.

there is zero legitimate reason to argue children should have access, porn is a scourge on modern society anyway, its more harmful than the crack epidemic of the 80's or the ongoing fentanyl one, truthfully it should just be made 100% illegal. And yes it is possible for kids to get around it, the solution is a mandatory content ID, something the US should 100% implement and so should other countries that restrict web data same way we do movies and games, and if you don't have a content ID its not rated and treated as adult only which ISP's should be required to filter and require a secure passcode to access said content. This needs to happen.

 

[unoficialoficial]

In the 1900s to 1940s, they didn't watch porn, yet they managed to make two world wars, invent chemical and nuclear weapons and use them extensively. Unlike TV, where content is pushed and the viewer has no choice, the internet offers millions of options and the viewer actively seeks out the content they want. So, it's a personal decision and should be respected; otherwise, it's a violation of their autonomy, personality and even a form of torture by suppressing natural biological functions.
At least they should come with hard, scientifically proven evidence that it causes problems. This means conducting research with a large sample size (at least 1,000 people) over 20 years, showing that those who watch porn statistically have more problems. However, we know this is unlikely to happen because one-third of internet traffic is for porn and that means everyone is watching it.

 

[candle86]

I don't see how a miner playing with his pick is any of your concern... dare I say, you're going down a dark hole.

a minor shouldn't have access, porn is just as dangerous as any drug, its affecting our society in very obvious ways. Its time to ban it, and yes its my business if a kid has access, those websites should be shut down, their owners arrested and charged with aiding in the delinquency of a minor, that would put this to rest real fast, and for international owned sites, issue an international warrant if the perverts ever come to the country arrest them.

 

[candle86]

In the 1900s to 1940s, they didn't watch porn, yet they managed to make two world wars, invent chemical and nuclear weapons and use them extensively. Unlike TV, where content is pushed and the viewer has no choice, the internet offers millions of options and the viewer actively seeks out the content they want. So, it's a personal decision and should be respected; otherwise, it's a violation of their autonomy, personality and even a form of torture by suppressing natural biological functions.
At least they should come with hard, scientifically proven evidence that it causes problems. This means conducting research with a large sample size (at least 1,000 people) over 20 years, showing that those who watch porn statistically have more problems. However, we know this is unlikely to happen because one-third of internet traffic is for porn and that means everyone is watching it.

there have been significant studies, porn addiction is a serious issue, it contributes to the majority of failed marriages, it has been studied and proven to wreak havoc on families, and leads to unrealistic expectations, this has been well studied. It offers zero artistic speech the original reason it was allowed at least in the US for first amendment reasons, but you can look at 99% of the content and there is nothing artistic about it. Anyone defending the porn industry is simply a pervert, and anyone defending minors right to access it should be investigated as a possible child predator because your pro grooming kids.

 

[candle86]

If you really want to keep children away from pornography websites, it really comes down to parents working with their kids. I say this a lot, if there is a will, there is a way. Kids and/or MINERs (yes I'm joining the running gag) who want to bypass the age restriction will find ways. They could steal their parents ID/credit cards, VPN, download torrents, etc etc.

So if you really want to solve some problems, strengthen the family.
Just my opinion.

I'm well aware of this, this is why me and my wife are choosing homeschooling, and will not allow them access to the internet without supervision while they are under 18, and I mean to enforce that strictly, they won't have smart phones, a simple dumb phone is fine for emergency calls, and the only computer they will have access to will be a desktop in the living room, using biometrics to login of which they wont be able to login.

 

[Hotlynx16]

They are doing that in some states like Texas also! I can see where that sounds like a good Idea but with the websites having that data from people if it got hacked the info could be used in blackmail and other things!

 

[candle86]

They are doing that in some states like Texas also! I can see where that sounds like a good Idea but with the websites having that data from people if it got hacked the info could be used in blackmail and other things!

they could partner with id.me that the irs uses, problem solved

 

[Axeia]

Anyone defending the porn industry is simply a pervert, and anyone defending minors right to access it should be investigated as a possible child predator because your pro grooming kids.

Or you know has been a curious teen with raging hormones themselves.
Platforms like the hub are fairly regulated, you won't find anything featuring minors on there or anything all that harmful.
Lets face it, it's something that's obviously very much in demand and the majority of it can be funnelled to a few sites with fairly strict regulations it's better than the alternative of the content going underground, unregulated, spread out over tons of sites, half of them on the onion network.
Not to mention trying to seriously enforce it will lead to people's unique info being linked to adult content access which at some point is going to get leaked and be real awkward for say priests.

Your argument is outrageous imo. I can fully agree that porn can have a negative effect on some people and lead to addictions and distorted world views and what not. However I think the fallout from it is far far less than that of social media and I'd much rather see that regulated and if you're old enough to be allowed access to that then you should be allowed access to the hub as well.

PS: The grooming is done on things like Instagram and TikTok, the underaged girls already posting more of themselves than they probably should on the internet are frequently approached by both professional groomers and random creeps.

 

[airbornex]

It’s telling that Aylo’s proposed solution is to offload verification to tech giants like Apple and Google. Makes you wonder... are we solving the privacy problem or just centralizing it even further?

 

[unoficialoficial]

a minor shouldn't have access, porn is just as dangerous as any drug, its affecting our society in very obvious ways. Its time to ban it, and yes its my business if a kid has access, those websites should be shut down, their owners arrested and charged with aiding in the delinquency of a minor, that would put this to rest real fast, and for international owned sites, issue an international warrant if the perverts ever come to the country arrest them.

It's one thing for a married couple to compare their partner to someone else, like an actor or actress from a movie and it's another thing that porn can cause psychological problems for (pre)teens. If there is research on this topic, please provide a link. When I was a teen, I wouldn't allow anyone to force me not to watch whatever I wanted. Why should someone else make that decision for them? Instead, give them advice that they can choose to follow or not. They might watch something once, and if they don't like it, they won't watch it again. It's their life. Why don't they choose to watch documentaries instead? Without concrete proof, such laws only serve to suppress their natural biological functions, which is a form of torture. This is a serious issue and a criminal offense.
I understand that you believe there could be harm and you want to protect them. However, you must also consider the "thin" possibility that there might be no harm. Maybe we've forgotten, but almost all of us, as teenagers, have watched porn at some point and we don't typically identify that experience as traumatic.

 

[Ashford]

a minor shouldn't have access, porn is just as dangerous as any drug, its affecting our society in very obvious ways. Its time to ban it, and yes its my business if a kid has access, those websites should be shut down, their owners arrested and charged with aiding in the delinquency of a minor, that would put this to rest real fast, and for international owned sites, issue an international warrant if the perverts ever come to the country arrest them.

Any risks from porn you can cite are trivial and well worth the price of living in a free society. Thanks for caring about my marriage and my relationships... and my private time... but speak slowly and consider what you are saying.. that the mere sight of the act that led to the creation of most every human will somehow be the downfall of society... that's some next-level *******ery right there, simply preposterous.

 

[DukeJukem]

Or we can take it a step further and just get rid of the porn profession alltogether. There's no talent in ****ing someone. Why are you paying people to be filthy, barnyard trash anyway? Just another easy way to make money that needs to be erased, like OnlyFans etc.

 

[Draconian]

Or we can take it a step further and just get rid of the porn profession alltogether. There's no talent in ****ing someone. Why are you paying people to be filthy, barnyard trash anyway? Just another easy way to make money that needs to be erased, like OnlyFans etc.

It wouldn't exist if there wasn't a demand for it. Some countries do ban it. How much do you want to control other people's private lives?

 

[Axeia]

Or we can take it a step further and just get rid of the porn profession alltogether. There's no talent in ****ing someone. Why are you paying people to be filthy, barnyard trash anyway? Just another easy way to make money that needs to be erased, like OnlyFans etc.

There's people that enjoy producing it, there's people that enjoy 'consuming' it.
A small percentage of those will be extremely negatively impacted by it but overall it tends to be a stress relieving positive.

That sounds a lot like alcohol doesn't it? Shall we ban that as well? Didn't go over so well whenever that was attempted. In my eyes it's a double standard if you're against one but not the other.
At least with porn there's so much of a stigma on it that there'll be less public outrage if you attempt to go against it - however the demand doesn't disappear and the negatives of it going underground are far worse (you don't know what to know what's on the dark web and that's where people would end up - increasing demand).

 

[BlackyNoir]

Yes, let's force individual sites and companies check and hold on to very private, very dangerous data... like a full scan of the identity card with photo , linked to whatever specialized website and all your history on it.

That will never go wrong. Companies never get sold. Never get pirated. Never have too curious tech minded employees and contractors.

Sure.

Plus, what's the benefit? Leave the fricking teenagers alone... we all watch mining movies when we were kids. For frick sake.