EU Censorship News

France's highest court, the Council of State, hasreinstated age/identity verification rules for EU-based porn websites under the country's Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law, ruling in favor of the French government and against Hammy Media.

Cyprus-based Hammy Media, which operates the adult site Xhamster, challenged the application of SREN's age verification regulations to sites based in other EU countries. The Paris Administrative Court temporarily suspended enforcement of those rules, but French authorities appealed to the Council of State, which has now dismissed the company's immediate objections.

In its decision, the Council of State ruled that Hammy Media failed to demonstrate that the SREN rules would prevent the company from distributing adult content to users of legal age.

Pornhub parent company Aylo opted to block access to its sites in France rather than comply with AV requirements under SREN. When the Paris Administrative Court suspended those rules, the company reversed that move and made the sites available again. Because of the latest court decision,  Aylo has announced that it will resume blocking access.

The EU Commission presented a Roadmap on how it intends to ensure that law enforcement has access to citizens' data. EU politicians are seeking capabilities to decrypt private data by 2030.

The Roadmap is part of the ProtectEU strategy, first unveiled in April 2025. It stems from the work of the High-Level Group (HLG) carried on under the so-called Going Dark initiative . The group was tasked, by the EU Council in June 2023, to develop a strategic plan on access to data for effective law enforcement.

Specifically, the group's final report, published in March 2025, referred to end-to-end encryption as the biggest technical challenge to the investigative work of law enforcement agencies, explicitly targeting the use of the best VPN services, encrypted messaging apps, and similar tools.

The EU plan focuses on six key areas:

• Data retention. The EU Commission is expected to carry out an impact assessment with the aim of extending the EU's data retention obligations and reinforcing cooperation between service providers and authorities.
• Interception. Lawmakers seek to explore measures aimed at improving cross-border cooperation for lawful interception of data by 2027.
• Digital forensics. The goal here is to develop technical solutions that allow authorities to analyze and preserve digital evidence stored on electronic devices.
• Decryption. Next year, the EU Commission is set to present a Technology Roadmap on encryption to identify and evaluate decrypting solutions. These technologies are expected to equip Europol officers from 2030.
• Standardisation. The Commission is said to be committed to working alongside Europol, industry stakeholders, experts, and law enforcement practitioners to standardize the new approach to internal security.
• AI solutions for law enforcement. Lawmakers also seek to promote the development and deployment of AI tools by 2028. These solutions will enable authorities to lawfully and effectively process large volumes of seized data.

Other articles suggest that the EU is thinking along the lines of key escrow where the authorities mandatorily demand a copy of people's encryptions keys

France has experienced a surge in virtual private network (VPN) signups after Aylo, which operates Pornhub, Redtube and YouPorn, cut off French access to those sites in the country in the wake of new age verification regulations.

ProtonVPN reported a 1,000% rise in sign-up requests within 30 minutes of Aylo's decision to restrict access to its sites, while NordVPN reported a 170% jump in usage. Overall VPN demand in France jumped 334% compared to the previous month.

Similar spikes in VPN use occurred in Utah, Texas, and Florida when Aylo blocked access to Pornhub in those U.S. states after each passed similar AV legislation.

Adult platforms operating in France had a deadline of June 7 to comply with the country's new AV rules under the Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.