Pornhub, the internet’s most popular pornographic website, has done something quite radical. It’s pulling out of the French market in response to a newly passed age verification law. The site is owned by Aylo, a company under the Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners. As noted, it will stop operating in France starting this Wednesday. As this service is most popular among French users, this decision severely impacts their community. Their access to Pornhub and other Aylo-operated platforms, like Youporn and RedTube, will disappear overnight.
France is Pornhub’s second largest market, second only to the United States. Aylo’s decision to exit comes in response to stringent regulations set forth by the French government, which requires adult websites to implement more rigorous measures to verify users’ ages. Beyond imposing burdensome administrative rules, the legislation has been condemned as a retaliatory measure. Critics have derided it as “dangerous,” “potentially privacy-infringing” and “ineffective.”
So even though Aylo might be fine with people like me supporting age verification measures, user privacy must always come first. Alex Kekesi, an executive at Aylo, stated the company’s dedication to the age verification process. He emphasized that protecting user privacy continues to be their number one priority. This concern has led Aylo to pull out of other U.S. states that have passed similar age-verification laws as well.
Across the pond in the United Kingdom, new legislation is in sight—mandating that platforms use “robust” age verification by July. Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, has begun investigating two adult websites. It was not clear from these sites how they are preventing underage access. The UK government is set to implement strict “age assurance” requirements for all websites providing sexually explicit material.
Aurore Bergé, the French minister for gender equality, expressed her approval of the decision on social media, stating, “There will be less violent, degrading and humiliating content accessible to minors in France.”
Aylo, for its part, is preparing to cease operations in France. At the same time, it fails to meet the requirements of dozens of age verification laws passed in multiple jurisdictions. The company’s move highlights the growing tension between regulatory efforts aimed at protecting minors and the privacy rights of adult users.