The parent company of Pornhub, Redtube and other popular smut sites is to suspend service in France today in advance of "age verification" laws kicking in there. The laws would require adult sites to either maintain records of users' identities or integrate with third-party systems that perform this service: "an ineffective mechanism that puts people's data at risk from bad actors, hacks or leaks," claims Aylo.
They say countries should target developers of operating systems like Microsoft's Windows, Apple's iOS or Google's Android, rather than porn platforms. "Aylo is extremely pro the concept of age verification," executive Alex Kekesi told reporters in a video call. But requiring individual platforms to confirm visitors' ages "poses a very serious risk… with respect to your privacy rights", she added.
Culture Minister Aurore Berge bid them au revoir: "There will be less violent, degrading and humiliating content accessible to minors in France." ("Il y aura moins de contenus violents, dégradants, humiliants accessibles aux mineurs en France.")
Gizmodo reports that France is Pornhub's biggest market after the U.S.
France is Pornhub's second-largest market behind the U.S., according to stats released by the company in 2024. The Philippines, Mexico, and UK round out the rest of the top five countries visiting Pornhub by traffic volume. The top search result on Pornhub in France is "francaise," the French word for "French," perhaps suggesting that French porn consumers have a strict bias toward homegrown content.
