Blocking of X-rated sites: Justice gives its verdict on Pornhub and YouPorn

The saga has been going on for several years. But this Thursday, the Paris Court of Appeal finally delivered its verdict. ISPs will have to submit to the decision of the French courts. Several sites are concerned, including major players that are among the most visited sites on the web. But the French courts are not giving up and intend to enforce the law.

4 sites blocked by the French courts

With the law of July 30, 2020, pornographic sites are required to verify the age of their users. The goal? To prevent minors from consuming their content. Unfortunately, effective solutions are lacking. A simple pop-up is no longer enough, and pornographic sites deplore a lack of real solutions to this problem. Therefore, in 2021, the associations La Voix de l'Enfant and e-Enfance sued the main ISPs, demanding the blocking of nine pornographic sites: Pornhub, MrSexe, Iciporno, Xnxx, Xvideos, YouPorn, Redtube, Tukif and xHamster.

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But these associations had not won their case and had been dismissed several times, including on appeal.The reason? They had not first sued the site managers. These associations were still able to count on the Court of Cassation, which finally ruled in their favor in October 2023. The case was then sent to the Paris Court of Appeal. And it was this Thursday that the Paris Court of Appeal delivered its verdict. 

ISPs have 15 days to block access to the sites xHamster, Mrsexe, Tukif and Iciporno, “until it is demonstrated that the latter have implemented a control other than purely declarative“.4 sites concerned out of the 9 targeted, the rest of the sites targeted by the associations benefit from a reprieve thanks to a question relating to European law. The French justice system is waiting for the Court of Justice of the EU to render its decision. In the meantime, Arcom is responsible for paving the way for future regulations.

According to the sheriff of audiovisual and digital communication, 2.3 million minors visit pornographic sites in France each month, on average. In an attempt to prevent these minors from being exposed to this content, Arcom can now subject these X-rated sites to a “technical reference” indicating “the minimum objectives for all age verification systems, under penalty of a fine” we learn from Le Parisien.