Featured Image Credit: Leon Neal / Staff / Getty
It's one of the most accessed sites in the world, and as the most-visited adult site in 2024, there's no escaping the pull of Pornhub. Alongside sites like YouPorn and RedTube, the Aylo-owned adult video sharing site has just gone dark in another country - blocking some 68 million users from potentially getting their rocks off.
Pornhub has officially gone dark in France, and while we know not all 68 million residents were going to be accessing the NSFW site, it could be a major 'blow' to its traffic. The move comes in defiance of new French laws that demand adult sites include third-party verification to confirm a user's age via credit card or government-issued ID.
It's an extension of what we've seen in the USA, with Pornhub being banned in Florida at the start of 2025 and bringing its total list of banned states to 16 (a third of the USA).
Aylo is sticking to its sticky guns, posting a defiant statement that claims French laws are creating a security risk by potentially exposing your data to third-party hacks. More than that, it suggests that those who want to access pornographic materials will be funnelled to other sites that might not carry out the same age and consent checks on those featured in its videos.
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Pornhub is pulling out of France because they think that demanding ID and verifying age with a third party is risky and extremely bad for privacy but their suggestion is to have your OPERATING SYSTEM verify your age and then send this information out to any site which asks pic.twitter.com/qtxixvYLMW
— LeafyWasHere (@Foiblaet) June 3, 2025
It's a case of Pornhub making the leap before it was banned in France, but if you check where the site is available around the world, there's a growing list of places you won't be able to find it.
Since 2013, Pornhub has been banned by China's Great Firewall, which is enforced by the People's Republic of China to regulate the country's domestic internet and also blocks out popular sites like Facebook and X.
Pornhub was once blocked in Russia due to questions over the age of a model, then faced a full ban in 2014 for "spreading harmful information to children." It was reinstated in 2017, although those accessing the Russian version of the site will have to verify their age via the VK social media network.
2017 saw the Government of the Philippines block Pornhub and other pornographic sites under the Republic Act 9775, also known as the Anti-Child Pornography Law.
October 2018 had India reinstate a ban on Pornhub, leading the site to create a mirror version, while Thailand blocked it in November 2020.
Now, France joins the list of countries that have forced Pornhub to 'finish early'
A full list of countries where pornography is banned (assuming this covers Pornhub) includes all of the above, as well as: Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Iran, Turkey, Tanzania, South Korea, Uganda, Afghanistan, Yemen, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, North Korea, Syria, Cambodia, United Arab Emirates, Belarus, Laos, Turkmenistan, Oman, Kuwait, Eritrea, Qatar, Armenia, Botswana, Equatorial New Guinea, Bahrain, Maldives, Brunei.
There are concerns that the France debacle will lead to a potential rollout of Pornhub and similar adult websites being banned across Europe. Some think this is part of a larger plan for governments to clamp down on our freedoms, and while France is another major source of saucy visitors being forced to look elsewhere, Pornhub is still a Goliath of the internet.
