C'est Fini! French Porn Users Left High & Dry

Paris: In a dramatic response to the French government, Canadian adult entertainment firm Aylo has made the unprecedented decision to close down its French adult content. From Wednesday, visitors to Pornhub, YouPorn, RedTube, and other Aylo-operated sites will be unable to view explicit material but will instead find a message condemning what the firm calls a "symbolic, unnecessary, and dangerous" law.

The move is a response to a new request from France for adult-verification of its viewers by porn websites through a "double anonymity" system. The legislation, imposed by media regulator Arcom, mandates that a third-party verifying organisation confirm users are adults—without disclosing which sites they are visiting. The aim: to halt an estimated 2.3 million children viewing adult material in France each month.

This wasn't a decision that came easily, as it's an enormous expense burden," Aylo vice president of community and brand Alex Kekesi said. With around 7 million daily French « tourists »,  the shutdown is a significant business loss. The company insists that it's battling for consumer rights and internet privacy, though.

Solomon Friedman, of Ethical Capital Partners, Aylo's parent organization, explained the motivation behind the protest. "All of our adult sites will be information sites to describe our battle," he said. French users now greet a homepage dominated by the Delacroix painting Liberty Leading the People and a manifesto detailing Aylo's resistance to the law.

Aylo argues that the necessary verification system is untested and drastically threatens privacy. "The real solution to protecting minors and adults is authenticating users' ages at the device level," Friedman said. "Instead of targeting thousands of adult websites, the government should be working with Apple, Google, and Microsoft to restrict access by default."

But the French government is not giving in. Clara Chappaz, Minister Delegate for Digital Affairs and Artificial Intelligence, called Aylo's decision to go offline "unacceptable." "The law is the law," she is supposed to have said to French daily, Le Parisien. "There is no negotiation to be had. It is not a question of punishing adults but about taking care of our children."

Legal experts suggest that the sites were already skating on thin ice to conform. "They've been on borrowed time," suggests Éric Barby, a technology lawyer. "This is a desperate public relations ploy, but it won't earn them public sympathy."

Others warn that Aylo's bluff will cost dearly. "They're not bluffing," said Jacky Lamraoui, CEO of age-checking firm ID x Lab. "But they are taking a very big fiscal risk. Users will simply go to other sites which obey the law.".

Meanwhile, Aylo and other adult websites are also being scrutinized more closely. The European Union is investigating whether Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos are doing a sufficient job to block children.

With neither side looking to back down, the battle over verifying age online is a test case for how aggressive governments—and private enterprise—are in attempting to balance privacy, regulation, and child protection in the digital age.