It's a dark day for purveyors of pornography in France, as Pornhub, RedTube, and YouPorn have officially gone dark in L'Hexagone. The country warned owner Aylo that it would have to comply with new age verification laws, but instead, the Canadian multinational pornographic conglomerate decided to 'pull out' of France altogether.
Pornhub is no more in France, and following in the footsteps of a January ban in Florida, the risqué site continues to face hurdles. Even as an ever-increasing list of US states and countries around the world unite against the content displayed on Pornhub, it still remains one of the most popular sites on the internet. It's said that Pornhub earned some 11.4 billion mobile visits in January 2024 alone - that's not taking into account desktop visits.
Pornhub has posted a defiant statement saying that France requiring you to upload a credit card or government-issued ID raises a serious privacy risk, while also claiming that the ban will simply send users toward other X-rated sites that don't have the same checks in place when it comes to the age and consent of those featured in its videos.
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Of course, tech-savvy surfers will know Pornhub isn't actually gone for good. Those who know their way around a virtual private network have already suggested that those who want to get their rocks off will simply use a VPN to access Pornhub in France.
A VPN creates a digital connection between your device and a remote server that's owned by a VPN provider, and by encrypting your personal data, it's able to hide your IP address to get around blocks and firewalls.
It seems a lot of you had the same idea, with sign-ups for Proton VPN soaring by 1,000% in just 30 minutes. Proton VPN then reminded us: "For context, this is more than when TikTok blocked Americans."
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Someone even asked Grok to check that the math adds up, with X's sassy AI saying that the January 2025 TikTok ban in the USA saw a 490% increase in Proton VPN sign-ups. Considering how the population of France is just 68 million when compared to the USA's 340 million, it sure makes you look like a randy bunch.
Responding to Proton VPN's shocking stats, one person wrote: "Nothing teaches the value of privacy tools faster than blocked pleasure."
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Another added: "You don't know what you can't live without until you lose it."
A third poked fun at Dune and said: "Who controls the porn, controls the Internet."
According to Top10VPN, general interest in VPNs in France leaped by 334% on June 4, with it expecting this to double to around 648% on June 5.
There are plenty of other VPNs out there, and if these are the numbers just for Proton VPN, we imagine there are many VPN providers rubbing their hands (and maybe some other parts) with glee.