Porn sites block access in protest against new French restrictions
From Wednesday, people in France will no longer be able to access pornography on several major sites - at least temporarily.
Aylo, the company behind Pornhub, Redtube and Youporn, plans to block content from the afternoon onwards in protest at new French age verification regulations, local media reports said on Tuesday.
Instead of porn, the company will only display a statement on the new regulations in the country.
Figures from the French digital regulatory authority Arcom from 2023 suggest 2.3 million minors visited porn sites every month, accounting for 12% of the total number of users in the country.
To better protect minors, the platforms are to create stricter control mechanisms. Simply clicking that you are over 18 will no longer be enough.
To maintain anonymity, external sites will verify the age of users. The porn sites will then only receive confirmation that the person is of legal age and will not know their identity. The external service provider will know the identity of the user but not the reason for the age check.
Aylo is in favour of age verification, but says it should be done on the devices used, not on the websites visited.
"Lying and taking hostages when you don't want to comply with the law is unacceptable," France's Deputy Minister for Digital Affairs, Clara Chappaz, commented on X in response to the company's announcement.
She said the regulation was about protecting children, and other websites were already complying with the new regulation. "If Aylo would rather leave France than apply our law, they are free to do so."
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