Now Pornhub ban spreads to EUROPE in row over under-18 access – and it includes two other major X-rated sites
PORNHUB has pulled out of France over objections to a new law requiring porn sites to verify the age of users.
Aylo, the adult entertainment company that owns Pornhub, has announced it will block access to the site in France over the new rule.
6
6
The company claims the French law poses a privacy risk to users.
The law could see users required to enter credit card details or other forms of official ID to verify their age.
Aylo also runs other popular porn sites such as Youporn and RedTube - which will also now be unavailable in France.
The company argues that device-based age verification is a better solution than requiring porn sites to police the age of users.
Aylo's VP for Brand and Community Alex Kekesi said: "All it requires is that the government enforce regulations on three companies – Apple, Google and Microsoft – the three operating system manufacturers requiring age verification at the device level prior to accessing adult content.
"The French government refuses to take this simple step and instead are focused on futile and entirely symbolic regulatory actions which are unenforceable, do not protect children and expose your private data."
Pornhub is the world's most visited porn site, with France being one of its biggest markets.
The website claims that France was its second biggest audience in 2024 after the United States.
Kekesi added: "We've made the difficult decision to suspend access to our sites in France and instead use our platforms to speak directly to the French people.
"French citizens deserve a government and a regulator who are serious about preventing children from accessing adult content.
"They also deserve laws which protect their privacy and safeguard their sensitive data."
Greenpeace activists swipe Emmanuel Macron waxwork from Paris's Grevin Museum before using it in anti-Russia protest-
6
French Gender Equality Minister Aurore Bergé posted on X that Aylo's decision meant there would be "less violent, degrading and humiliating content accessible to minors in France".
She added: "Pornhub, Youporn, and RedTube refuse to comply with our legal framework and decide to leave. Good!"
It comes after Aylo made similar moves to block access to its porn sites in several US states over age verification laws.
So far, 19 US states have passed laws requiring porn sites to verify users's age.
6
The bans cover around one third of the US population.
Methods of checking under these laws can include providing a government-issued ID or even scanning a user's face.
It has seen many porn sites opt to block access to their pages rather than implement such verification systems.
States that have implemented these laws include Texas, Florida, Arizona and Virginia.
The European Commission has also launched an investigation into several adult websites - including Pornhub - over accusations they had not complied with regulations aimed at stopping minors accessing porn.
The UK also has a law requiring platforms to have "robust" age checks in place by July.
It is currently unclear whether the same porn platforms will also block access to their sites in Britain when this comes into force.
6
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Review Geek
36 minutes ago
- The Review Geek
K.O. (2025) Ending Explained – Does Leo survive the gang?
K.O. Plot Summary The premise of K.O. clings to all the usual tropes you'd expect from a flick like this, jumping straight into the action. Here, we follow aspiring MMA fighter Bastien, who finds himself in the ring with his bitter rival, Enzo. The pair go toe-to-toe in a relentless and pretty brutal sequence that immediately sets the tone and mood for the rest of the movie. Bastien's fight ends in tragedy when he counters a triangle hold into a full-on slam to the mat. Enzo's head crunches against the canvas, and unfortunately, he passes away as a result. Guilt-stricken, Bastien hangs up his gloves and disappears into exile. Fast-forward two years, and our reclusive hero is called back into action by Enzo's widowed wife, Emma. Her son, Leo, has gone missing after getting mixed up in the drug trade, and it seems he may be the target of some particularly nasty gangsters. With a bullseye on his back, Leo is in big trouble—and Bastien feels a moral obligation to do right by Emma. Who are the rival gang? Bastien heads off to find out the truth about Leo's whereabouts, where he winds up indirectly working with Captain Alaoui. The rival gang are called the Manchours. They're vicious and a lot of people are scared of them. They're fronted by a man named Abdul, a relentless gangster determined to grow his empire in Marseille – no matter the cost. Alaoui loses her badge thanks to getting too aggressive with a couple of gang members outside. She teams up with Bastien to get info on Leo's whereabouts, and they soon realize that he has valuable intel that could take down the Manchours. This explains why the gang are so interested in the kid – and why they want him dead. What is driving Alaoui and Bastien to fight so hard? Alaoui lives alone and doesn't have a partner. She's consumed by her grief though, still torn up over the passing of her brother. She has a history with the Manchours, stemming from her childhood. She grew up in the same neighbourhood as the gang and her brother began working with kids on the street. Unfortunately, when the Manchours started dealing drugs and getting the kids involved, her brother pissed them off badly. In fact, one night they tied him to a chair and burned him alive. Even worse, they sent the video to Alaoui and disappeared, until a year ago when they returned. They're smart and always one step ahead, building a criminal enterprise in Marseille – which Alaoui is determined to stop. What happens at the police station? After reuniting with Leo and a tense chase sequence at the apartment complex, the group make it back to the police station where Bastien explains why he's doing all of this. His father passed away when he was a kid and since then he was angry at the world and lashed out. Bastien chose fighting as an outlet and the irony is, this accident has caused Leo's father, Enzo, to die. He recognizes that Leo is going down a dark path and although Bastien didn't mean to kill the fighter, he feels responsible for making sure he steers the kid in the right direction. Bastien was lucky, having surrounded himself with good people and managing to turn a corner, away from a potential life of misery and crime. Who is the mole? Leo reveals in his police interview that the Manchours organized a big meeting with their contacts. Leo was new and shouldn't have been there but he showed up anyway. Here, the Manchour gang met with Andalou and his gang – the same guy we saw earlier tortured for the whereabouts of the drugs earlier in the movie. This was all a trap, organized by Andalou's contact. Leo saw Abdel Manchour kill a man right in front of him but unfortunately, was spotted spying on them and he decided to run. Leo got freaked when he saw the cops because that informant working with the gang happens to be 'The Cop'. It's here where Alaoui realizes there's mole in the midst… and it happens to be Vasseur. He immediately stabs Benoit in the neck before he's shot down. This explains why Leo never went to the police – he didn't trust them. Who survives the final fight? Outside, shots are fired at Sebastopol and the surrounding areas, sending officers out to check. Unfortunately, this leaves the station severely lacking in staff, prompting the Manchour gang to come in all guns blazing and shoot the place up. Alaoui does her best to fight back but Abdul is leading the charge. Through the fighting, Alaoui and Abdul wind up duking it out while Bastien handles Abdul's right-hand man, Driss. Bastien just about comes out on top while Alaoui kills Abdul after stabbing him in the eye and driving this through his skull. With police heading back, the gang breathe a sigh of relief after coming out in one piece. How does K.O. end? Leo is finally free and no longer hunted by the (presumably defunct) Manchour gang, while Emma is reunited with her son. It seems he'll now have a way of handling and channelling his anger, courtesy of Bastien's guidance too. As for Bastien, he intends to head out and carve a new name for himself, deciding that it's time to find something new to fight, looking out at the sunset ready for another day. Read More: K.O. Movie Review
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Post Office compensation chief steps down after Sir Alan Bates raised 'serious concerns' about schemes
A Post Office boss who backed compensation for Horizon IT scandal victims has left his position as Sir Alan Bates raised 'serious concerns' about schemes. Leader of the Post Office's Remediation Unit, Simon Recaldin, is believed to have opted for voluntary redundancy and left his post this week. It comes as the first part of a public inquiry report into the controversy, analysing the compensation process as well as the affect on victims, is anticipated to be released in the coming weeks. More than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after faulty accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their accounts. Hundreds are still waiting for payouts despite the previous government announcing that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000. A Post Office spokesperson said yesterday Mr Recaldin's departure was a part of an 'organisational design exercise' across the firm. Now Joanne Hanley, who was previously a managing director and global head of client servicing, data and operations for Lloyds', is understood to have taken up a large portion of the former Post Office chief, according to The Telegraph. It comes as Post Office hero Sir Alan Bates accused the government of running a 'quasi kangaroo court' payout system for the scandal's victims last month. More recently, Sir Alan said he would prefer to see the compensation schemes thrown out rather the people working on them. 'We have got serious concerns about the transparency and the parity across the schemes,' he told The Telegraph. Last November, Mr Recaldin giving evidence to the inquiry, apologised after it was unearthed staff who were managing compensation claims had also been embroiled in prosecutions relating to the scandal. When queried about ex Post Office investigators he said: 'So my regret – and it is a genuine regret – is that when I came in, in January 2022, that I didn't do that conflicts check, check back on my inherited team, and challenge that.' It comes as the Sir Alan, who famously won his High Court battle with the Post Office in 2019 revealed that he had been handed a 'take it or leave it' compensation offer of less than half his original claim. Mr Bates, 70, said the first offer, made in January last year, was just one sixth of what he was asking for, adding that it rose to a third in the second offer. He has now been given a 'final take it or leave it offer' - which he said amounts to 49.2 per cent of his original claim. He, alongside 500 other sub-postmasters, will now have to lodge their bid for compensation via the Group Litigation order, managed by the Government. Bates, who led the sub-postmasters' campaign for justice, attacked the government for reneging on assurances given when the compensation schemes were set up The Post Office currently manages the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, which is seperate to the aforementioned. This scheme was organised for victims who have not been compensated but believe they experienced financial loses due to the IT scandal. A Post Office spokesman said: 'As part of the Post Office's commitment to deliver a 'new deal for postmasters', we have undertaken a review of our operating model to ensure we have the right structure in place. 'We have been in consultation with a number of colleagues from across the business, including the Remediation Unit. As a result of this Post Office-wide organisational design exercise, Simon Recaldin has left the business.'
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Signs our dead loved ones are trying to contact us: SUZANNE GIESEMANN was a Navy commander when her stepdaughter died. What happened next will shake any sceptic and changed her life - and can bring hope back to yours too
The unusual fluttery feeling throughout my body was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. My head felt swirly, and I had to fight to keep from tilting to the right. But I was too fascinated to be frightened as Mavis Pittilla, the grande dame of British mediums, told me that she could see two spirits, a man and a woman, standing beside me.
