Pornhub, Youporn, Redtube boycott France over age requirements

Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, Youporn and Redtube is suspending access to its adult content platforms in France starting Wednesday over age verification requirements.

The self-imposed take-down is in protest of recent requirements handed down by French regulators for porn sites to verify that their users are 18 or older.

"We have made the difficult decision to suspend access to our sites (user-uploaded content platforms, including Pornhub, Youporn, and Redtube) in France starting tomorrow afternoon and to use our platforms to directly engage with the French public," Alex Kekesi, VP of Brand and Community at Aylo, said on Tuesday.

According to Paris-based tech media outlet BFMTV, Aylo was given a three-month deadline starting on March 6th to implement an "effective" age verification solution.

The adult content conglomerate claims it had offered “more appropriate solutions - including on-device age verification, which would protect both minors and your privacy,” BFMTV stated.

“They simply ignored us," Aylo said, already posting a message to French users warning about the upcoming suspension on each of the platforms. The company also said it will be addressing its users directly on Wednesday.

Communiqué de l’@Arcom_fr suite à la décision de l’éditeur de Pornhub, Youporn et Redtube de suspendre l’accès en France aux trois sites : https://t.co/wShFb3n4Mo pic.twitter.com/6Vl38viegR

undefined marc rees (@reesmarc) June 3, 2025

Data privacy at heart of issue

Known as “Arcom,” France's digital and audiovisual communication regulator has been pushing age verification to protect children from accessing adult sites since passing a law last May. The EU is currently pushing for the same, creating its own firestorm of controversy and pushback.

Arcom, whose edict will kick in on June 7th, said in an official statement on its website Tuesday, translated from French, that "Every month, Pornhub, the Aylo group's most popular site, is visited by more than a third of teenagers aged 12 to 17.”

According to statistics compiled by Pornhub in 2024, France was second out of 20 countries who visited Pornhub the most, only behind the Unted States at number one.

To be compliant with the law, France wants Pornhub, Youporn, and Redtube users to verify their age on the platforms using a credit card or an individual ID.

This would entail using a third-party "double-blind" option that would prevent the platforms from seeing users' identifying information themselves, French news agency APF said.

The issue for Aylo is not the verification itself, but how it should be implemented. Aylo says it is "extremely pro the concept of age verification."

The porn company, which boasts safeguard technology such as uploader verification, content fingerprinting, NGO relations, moderation, content flagging and removal, and deterrence messaging, believes that method would put people’s data at jeaopordy for abuse by malicious actors and "poses a very serious risk... with respect to your privacy rights."

With no age verification process in place, French regulators have the ability to block the adult platforms, as well as levy fines for as much as 4% of each website's global annual revenue.

“Adults are free to consume porn, but not at the expense of protecting our children, “ Clara Chappaz, France's Junior Minister for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology, wrote in a post on social media platform X.

“Asking pornographic sites to verify the age of their users is not stigmatizing adults, but rather protecting our children. Others have done so. If Aylo prefers to leave France rather than apply our law, that's up to them,” Chappaz said.

🔴 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

undefined Clara Chappaz (@ClaraChappaz) June 3, 2025

Aylo, an adult entertainment conglomerate with multiple brands, also runs eight other premium paid adult sites, as well as an adult marketplace, a total of four adult video-sharing platforms (including the three affected), an adult gaming and applications division, and two adult advertising networks.

The company’s tagline states it offers "world-class adult entertainment on some of the internet's safest platforms."

The APF reported that “Aylo's message to would-be porn viewers will be topped with the image of "Liberty leading the people" from Eugene Delacroix's renowned bare-breasted painting of the allegorical figure.”

EU regulators said last month that several sites, including Pornhub, would be investigated for failing to comply with rules to protect children, reports Reuters.