Vive la resistance – in reverse. Pornhub and its sister sites YouPorn and RedTube have gone dark in France, yanking access to their content Wednesday in a dramatic protest over a government crackdown on underage users.
The move comes after Aylo – the firm behind the trio of X-rated titans – hit pause on its French operations rather than comply with a new law requiring porn platforms to verify users are 18 or older.
“I can confirm that Aylo has made the difficult decision to suspend access to its user-uploaded platforms… in France,” a Pornhub spokesperson said Tuesday. “We will be using our platforms to directly address the French public tomorrow.”
Aylo, which operates some of the world’s most trafficked adult sites, is now in a standoff with France’s digital watchdog, Arcom, which has the power to block sites and fine operators who fail to screen out minors.
French officials aren’t exactly begging them to stay.
“If Aylo would rather leave France than apply our laws, they are free to do so,” Clara Chappaz, France’s junior minister for artificial intelligence and digital technology, posted bluntly on X.
According to Arcom, some 2.3 million minors access porn sites every month in France – a clear violation of laws requiring age gating. The government has demanded stricter controls, like government ID or verified digital passports.
But Aylo claims the measures would compromise user privacy and create security risks, setting up a classic clash between data protection and content regulation.
Now, French users clicking over to Pornhub are getting nothing but a cold shower – a sudden blackout that leaves millions of adults scrambling for alternatives.
Whether the blackout is a temporary gambit or a long-term exit remains unclear. But one thing’s for sure: in France, the liberté to browse adult content just got a whole lot harder to come by.
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