Age verification becomes mandatory on porn sites in the UK, and gradually in France
The United Kingdom made headlines last month by announcing that, starting July 25, several major porn sites would deploy age verification tools in the UK, retiring the familiar and purely declarative button, "I am over 18." Among these are several websites – Pornhub, RedTube, YouPorn, Tube8 and MyDirtyHobby – run by Aylo, a leading Canadian and Cypriot group in the industry. The list also includes "camshow" platforms, such as ICF Group (Streamate, LiveHDCams), Cam4 and Cypriot giant Stripchat.
Adult video sites are not the only ones complying with the measures set out in the Online Safety Act, passed in 2023. In recent weeks, a range of publishers have announced plans to deploy age verification tools in the UK, starting with Reddit, the American social media platform, which will hide its pornographic content behind a filter designed to keep minors out. The same goes for the gay dating app Grindr and even the social network Bluesky.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fashion Network
16 minutes ago
- Fashion Network
L'Oréal sales slip in Q2 as North Asia and travel retail lag
L'Oréal, the French beauty giant known for brands such as Lancôme, Maybelline and CeraVe, reported weaker-than-expected sales in the second quarter, as a slowdown in North Asia, travel retail, and its core European market weighed on results. Quarterly revenue fell by 1.3% year-over-year to €10.73 billion ($11.7 billion), the company said Tuesday evening. The drop was steeper than analysts had expected, and revenue in North Asia—particularly China and South Korea—saw a significant decline that gains in other global markets could not fully offset. On a like-for-like basis, which excludes currency fluctuations and acquisitions or divestments, group sales rose 2.4%, falling short of the 2.9% growth projected in a Visible Alpha consensus estimate cited by Jefferies. Total revenue for the April–June period reached €10.74 billion ($12.38 billion). Adjusted for the phased rollout of a new IT system, underlying growth stood at 3.7%, according to the company. L'Oréal is facing sluggish consumer spending in China due to stagnant wage growth, high youth unemployment, and continued uncertainty surrounding former U.S. President Donald Trump 's tariff policies. Demand in Asian travel retail channels also remained weak. Global cosmetics market growth has slowed significantly in recent quarters from the highs of the post-pandemic rebound, when inflation drove up sales values. The sector—especially the fragrance category, which is predominantly produced in Europe—is also grappling with rising costs tied to tariffs. In response to the European Union's recent agreement to impose a 15% tariff on U.S. imports of EU cosmetics, L'Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus voiced concern and revealed plans to lobby for an exemption. 'I don't think it's a good deal,' he told Reuters. 'We're going to be writing to all the European leaders and negotiators to see whether there's a loophole we could benefit from, because ultimately, this could prove costly.' L'Oréal, which imports around 30% of its U.S. sales, may raise prices and shift more production to its four American factories. However, Hieronimus said the group is holding off on any decisions until further negotiations between the U.S. and other nations are finalized. While analysts at Jefferies expect U.S. perfume sales to slow in the second half as companies raise prices, Hieronimus noted that L'Oréal's fragrance segment is currently growing at double-digit rates, compared to 7% for the broader market. 'There is some pricing power on fragrances, but we also have to consider how sensitive demand is to price changes,' he added. Following the earnings release, L'Oréal shares fell by around 1% in after-hours trading on the Tradegate platform.
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
Automotive giant Stellantis faces €1.5 billion hit from US tariffs
The second-biggest carmaker in Europe has forecast that US tariffs could cost it €1.5 billion this year as the EU has failed to avert auto levies imposed by the Trump administration. The producers of luxury Maserati cars as well as mid-range and affordable favourites such as Lancia, Peugeot and Fiat, said on Tuesday that net profits plummeted from €5.6bn in the same period last year. This was as it burned €3.3 billion in cash for the cancellation of a hydrogen fuel cell project. Changes in the fine regime for US carbon emission regulations and write-downs on platform investments also hit profits. US President Donald Trump's tariffs cost the company €300 million in the first six months of the year, Stellantis said. Losses like these could crank up political and labour pressure as the carmaker faces a heightened risk of plant shutdowns, delayed model launches and fights with unions as management scrambles to manage the cash gap. Carmakers are the main drivers of European industry. The sector pumps out roughly 7% of EU GDP according to the European Commission, supports around 14 million jobs across its supply chains and delivers one of the bloc's biggest export surpluses each year. Automakers also pour more than €70bn annually into engineering and technological innovation. A dip in their fortunes can therefore ripple into technology, steel, chemicals, logistics and the continent's drive for innovation. Stellantis said it expected net revenues to increase over the next six months compared with the first half, when they dropped 13% to €74.3bn. The carmaker also said cash flow would improve. Incoming CEO Antonio Filosa, who was confirmed in the role last month, said the new executive team would "continue to make the tough decisions needed to re-establish profitable growth and significantly improve results". 'My first weeks as CEO have reconfirmed my strong conviction that we will fix what's wrong with Stellantis,'' Filosa said in a statement.
Euronews
2 hours ago
- Euronews
China announces fertility subsidy program as births hit historic lows
Long seen in the West as a byword for the Chinese Communist Party's heavy-handedness, the one-child policy became a trope for Chinese authoritarianism. While the policy was officially scrapped in 2015 after years of looser enforcement, China now faces unprecedentedly low birth rates — and has announced it will begin offering childcare subsidies for the first, second and third child up to the age of three, starting this year. Under the plan, families will receive what the government calls a 'fertility bonus' of 3,600 yuan or just over €430 per child until the age of three. While the national government will pay this 'base' amount, local authorities are free to top it up depending on their own resources. The CCP said the nationwide rollout of cash subsidies will help ease the pressure of childcare expenses and will help to prevent a further decline in the fertility rate. Crucially, the subsidies will be tax-exempt and excluded from calculations of household or individual income, ensuring they do not affect eligibility for minimum living allowances or extreme poverty assistance. Why now? In 2024, China's total fertility (TFR) rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime according to current patterns — was around 1.15 children per woman. That's among the world's lowest and below the so-called 'replacement level' of 2.1, meaning the baseline for the population size to stay the same. Demographers use these rates to measure whether a population is shrinking, growing or staying the same. The goal of the new policy would not be to expand the population, but to keep it at a relatively similar size without seeing it skew too heavily towards an ageing population. The latter is a problem faced by many European economies. According to the World Health Organization, by 2040, around 28% of China's population will be over the age of 60, threatening to disrupt what used to be a growing labour force and competitive wages. This also skews the dependency ratio, with funds in the economy going to supporting elderly relatives, increased healthcare costs and pensions. In 2022, China's population shrank for the first time since 1961, marking a yearly drop of 850,000 people as deaths outnumbered births. In 2023, the worst year on record, the population fell by approximately 2.08 million, and the decline continued in 2024 — improving only slightly — as it fell by 1.39mn. Chinese growth miracle is reversed In 1978, China went through political and economic reforms, including opening up parts of its economy to combat rural poverty and absorbing hundreds of millions of workers into its labour force. It is widely considered one of the fastest economic transformations in history, with China becoming the biggest net exporter in the world and its economy growing an average of about 9.5% per year until 2018. Of course, the economic clout came with political and diplomatic power. Now, the population decline could lead to China falling on the wrong side of the demographic dividend as its pool of available labour shrinks. Ultra-low fertility economies China is not the only Asian country to suffer from this problem and its effects on the economy. Several Asian countries are now considered ultra-low fertility economies, where population decline has become very steep and hard to reverse — even with pro-natalist policies like the child subsidy. A mix of economic, cultural and demographic dynamics may reinforce a cycle of fewer births in these countries. Economically, this erodes the very demographic dividend that once fuelled the explosive growth of East Asia's richest countries.
