Prøve GULL - Gratis
Pornhub cries liberté after France enforces age-limit regulations
The Observer
|June 08, 2025
French visitors to the pornography website Pornhub were greeted with an unusual sight on Wednesday: not a collection of X-rated videos but a mocked up image of Eugène Delacroix's 1830 painting Liberty Leading the People.
Next to the picture was a statement of defiance more fitting to the 21st century. "Freedom has no off button," it read in English.
The second surprise was that there was no getting past Marianne to Pornhub's usual fare. The site's owner, Aylo, had preemptively blocked access to its porn empire, which includes the video-sharing platforms YouPorn, Redtube and Tube8 too.
Aylo, formerly MindGeek, was responding to a French law passed in 2024 mandating that pornography sites implement strict age-verification systems to prevent minors accessing adult content. More urgently, it was acting against a Friday deadline prescribed by the legislation. Since then all pornography users in France must verify their age using a credit card or government ID.
Denne historien er fra June 08, 2025-utgaven av The Observer.
Abonner på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av kuraterte premiumhistorier og over 9000 magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
FLERE HISTORIER FRA The Observer
The Observer
Reeves needs to call time on dodgy stats
On Friday, the latest retail sales numbers for the British economy were due to be published.
1 min
August 24, 2025
The Observer
Lucy Connolly isn't a hero. Justice doesn't mean a verdict you approve of Kenan Malik
Lionising a woman who pleaded guilty to stirring up racial hatred is a moral failure by the right
4 mins
August 24, 2025
The Observer
We can't shrink from Palestine Action
There is one part of the UK where terrorist flags and placards have rarely been off the news.
3 mins
August 24, 2025
The Observer
Politically acceptable UK racism is on the rise. And, worse, this is under 'progressive' Labour rule
As I wrote these words last autumn: \"We have made progress... even though that progress remains fragile and insufficient\", little did I realise just how right I was.
3 mins
August 24, 2025
The Observer
We want peace – but not on Putin's terms, Ukrainians say
Weary of Russia's war, the citizens of Ukraine are nevertheless wary of a settlement that might give away too much, or that doesn't carry a security guarantee, reports Liz Cookman in Kyiv
4 mins
August 24, 2025
The Observer
Take tougher line on asylum human rights, judges told
Labour will order judges to reinterpret parts of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) early next month as the government grapples with the asylum appeals backlog that has sparked the current crisis.
2 mins
August 24, 2025
The Observer
Musk flies a drone fleet over the capital. (Luckily, it's not Elon)
News that a Musk-owned fleet of drones is flying over London this weekend might be enough to prompt fears of a new Blitz.
1 mins
August 24, 2025
The Observer
Ganges river dolphin
The dark is my delight.
2 mins
August 24, 2025
The Observer
Jerome Powell
If anyone can stand up to Trump, it's the affable and decisive Fed chair, writes Matthew Bishop
4 mins
August 24, 2025
The Observer
'We're hiding some very dirty secrets'. The scandal of fake foreign honey
An investigation by Jon Ungoed-Thomas reveals the worldwide honey fraud that begins in China and ends with allegations of adulterated jars on UK supermarkets shelves
5 mins
August 24, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size