Visitors from France accessing adult sites like PornHub, YouPorn, and RedTube will encounter a message that criticizes the nation’s age verification laws, as announced by the company on Tuesday.
A spokesperson indicated that Iro, the parent company, has set a requirement for users to be 18 years or older, responding to French legislation mandating that adult sites implement stricter measures to verify the ages of their users.
“It’s clear that Iro has made the tough choice to restrict access for French users on platforms like Pornhub, Youporn, and Redtube. Tomorrow, we will utilize these platforms to directly engage with the French public,” stated a Pornhub representative on Tuesday.
Instead of providing a vast array of adult content on PornHub, Iro aims to “directly communicate with the French populace about the dangers and invasiveness of privacy, along with the ineffectiveness of French laws,” said Solomon Friedman, owner of Iro and a partner at Ethical Capital Partners, during a video call with reporters on Tuesday.
This year, France will gradually implement new requirements for all adult sites, enabling users to verify their ages using personal information such as credit cards and identification documents.
To safeguard privacy, operators are required to offer third-party “double-blind” options that prevent the sites from accessing users’ identities.
However, Iro contends that this approach is flawed and jeopardizes user data to potential threats, hacks, and leaks.
The company argues that France should focus on the developers of operating systems like Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s iOS, and Google’s Android, rather than targeting pornographic platforms.
“Iro takes age verification seriously,” executive Alex Kekesi noted during a media call.
She emphasized that individual platforms carry a “significant risk” to privacy rights concerning age verification.
Friedman from ECP stated, “Google, Apple, and Microsoft have integrated features within their operating systems to verify a user’s age at the device level.”
The capacity to “supply age signals to any site or application” can enable control over access to adult content while keeping sensitive information private, offering a viable solution,” he argued.
“We recognize that these three companies are powerful, but that doesn’t excuse France’s actions,” he added.
Iro’s message to adult content viewers includes imagery promoting freedom, inspired by Eugene Delacroix’s renowned painting featuring nude figures.
Culture Minister Auroa Berge mentioned that if adult sites choose to block French users instead of adhering to the law, it would be “very positive.”
“Minors in France will have less access to violent, degrading, and humiliating content,” she remarked.
“If Iro prefers to withdraw from France rather than comply with our regulations, they are free to do so,” stated Clara Chappaz, the French Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology, on X.
According to Arcom, 2.3 million minors visit porn sites each month, even though they are legally prohibited from doing so.
Elsewhere in the European Union, adult content platforms face increased scrutiny. EU regulators announced last month that several sites, including Pornhub, are under investigation for failing to uphold child protection regulations.
Source: www.theguardian.com
