Major pornographic websites Pornhub, YouPorn and RedTube need to verify the age of users in France, the country's top administrative court said on Tuesday, July 15. France is trying to prevent minors from accessing pornography, but has faced pushback from adult websites. More than half of all boys in France access porn sites on average every month from age 12, the French audiovisual watchdog Arcom said in June.
The government in March ordered porn sites based in the European Union, but not in France, to check the ages of their visitors based on a French law from 2024, to prevent underage users from accessing them. Pornhub, YouPorn and RedTube, all owned by the same parent company, made themselves unavailable in France in early June in protest.
Hammy Limited, an adult film firm based on Cyprus and the operator of the Xhamster platform, took legal steps against the French decree. The Paris administrative tribunal then suspended it later in June, pending an investigation into whether it was compatible with EU legislation. After the government appealed, the Council of State, the country's top administrative court, said, on Tuesday, that it had annulled that suspension.
"YouPorn and Pornhub hit a wall. Judicial manoeuvrings in order to not protect children don't work," said France's junior digital affairs minister, Clara Chappaz, on X.
5 EU countries to test an age-verification app
In a bid to protect privacy, Arcom, the French watchdog, has recommended operators offer a third-party "double-blind" option that would prevent the platforms from seeing users' identifying information.
Aylo, which reports seven million visitors in France daily across its various platforms, has instead called for governments to require makers of operating systems such as Apple, Microsoft and Google to verify users' ages at the level of individual devices.
The EU Commission said on Monday that five EU countries, including France, would test an app aimed at preventing children from accessing harmful content online. The commission unveiled the prototype of an age-verification app that Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain will customise to launch national versions within several months.