France: Pornhub, YouPorn and RedTube back online. Government announces appeal
Paris court ruling suspends French decree: Aylo reactivates sites and relaunches debate on child protection
2' min read
2' min read
After two weeks of voluntary blackout, Pornhub, YouPorn and RedTube are accessible again in France. The Aylo group, which controls the three online pornography giants, announced the reopening of the portals following the suspension by the Paris administrative court of the government decree that imposedmandatory age verification for users' red-light sites based in the European Union.
The French measure, which came into force on 4 June, aimed toprevent minors from accessing pornographic content by means such as inserting their identity card or credit card. However, the administrative justice considered that the measure might have violated European regulations and therefore suspended its application pending a more thorough examination. The government has already announced an appeal to the Council of State.
Meanwhile, Aylo called the suspension an "opportunity to rethink more effective approaches", criticising the French strategy of making sites responsible for verification. According to the company, solutions of this kind expose users to serious security risks and should, if anything, be handled at the device level, by Apple, Google and Microsoft.
The affair is part of a tug-of-war that has been going on for years between the French authorities and the online porn giants. In fact, according to European law, France cannot take direct action against sites based in other EU countries, such as Cyprus or Portugal, without first notifying the European Commission and the Member States. This is a long and complex process, which limits the effectiveness of the action of Arcom, the French audiovisual authority, and slows down the implementation of laws already passed for the protection of minors in the digital space.
According to data from Arcom,around 40% of French minors access pornographic content monthly. Therefore, the regulatory battle continues also in Brussels, where Paris pushes for a European law imposing EU-wide age verification. In the meantime, the Commission has launched an investigation that also involves Pornhub.
