Canadian pornography giant Aylo has restored access to the Pornhub, YouPorn and Redtube sites in France after a nearly three-week block in response to a demand to verify the age of visitors.
This was confirmed by a company representative in a comment to Politico.
This followed a French court ruling that national authorities could not impose such requirements on companies based in other EU countries. Ayloʼs European headquarters are located in Cyprus.
The company said in a statement that the court’s decision “allows us to consider more effective approaches, pending the position of the Court of Justice of the European Union”. The company also reiterated its support for age verification at the device level, rather than the website level.
The French government plans to appeal this court decision.
France has been actively promoting ideas to prevent minors from accessing harmful content in recent years. President Emmanuel Macron and Digital Transformation Minister Clara Chappaz are advocating for a single 15-year-old age limit for social media use across Europe.
In this regard, porn sites were given until June 7 to comply with the new age verification rules, but Aylo completely blocked its sites in France, stating that these measures violated the right to privacy.
Restrictions for minors on social media
In 2024, the European Union launched an investigation into social media platforms Facebook and Instagram for potential violations of the EU Digital Services Act related to child safety. A similar case was opened against TikTok.
In July 2024, the Spanish government developed a program called Cartera Digital Beta (“Digital Wallet Beta”), which will allow internet platforms to verify whether a potential porn viewer is 18 or older.
In May 2025, the European Commission opened formal proceedings against adult content platforms Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos for suspected violations of child protection rules.
In June 2024, X updated its rules to allow users to post adult content. By default, users who are under 18 or have not entered their date of birth cannot view NSFW material. However, French law requires stricter regulation. So now the government is considering declaring X a pornographic platform to prevent children from accessing it.
The Financial Times reported that the EU will launch a new age-verification app in July this year. It should allow for more effective enforcement of rules protecting minors online.
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