Internet Porn Censorship

A British Labour MP, Jessica Asato, has announced that she plans to ask Parliament to outlaw online adult content featuring the act of choking. Asato called choking content insidious and claimed that it has led to a huge increase in the practice in everyday relationships. Asato claimed in an interview with GB News that this is also leading to things like spitting, slapping -- all things that actually many women say they don't want, they don't consent to -- so technically, that's criminal.

Asato explained that, should she be successful in passing the proposed law, the British media censor Ofcom would be empowered to levy really big fines or initiate criminal proceedings against sites or platforms that make choking content available online.

Inevitably the moralist Asato doesn't consider her censorship proposal as censorship. Asked whether she opposes nonviolent consensual pornography, Asato responded:

I don't have any problem with that at all, and I'm certainly not here to be a moralist ...BUT... What I'm really concerned about is the damaging impact it has in the real lives of women and girls in relationships.

Earlier this year, a pornography review initiated under the conservative government of former U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recommended banning any adult content deemed degrading, violent and misogynistic -- including material showing choking, eaggeratingly tagged as non-fatal strangulation.

First Time Video is pay site specialising in first time in porn sets. there are two websites, ftvgirls.com and ftvmilfs.com.

First time video repsonded to the ofcom censorship by taking away an introductory page describing the website content. British users are now met with just a subscription option to join the website as a paying member.

See article from ofcom.org.uk

In June 2025 Ofcom announced an investigation of the website saying:

We have launched an investigation into whether First Time Videos LLC, which provides the pornographic services FTVGirls.com and FTVMilfs.com, has highly effective age assurance in place to protect children from pornography.

We will now gather and analyse evidence to determine whether any contraventions have occurred. If our assessment indicates compliance failures, we will issue provisional notices of contravention to providers, who can then make representations on our findings, before we make our final decisions.

We will provide updates on these investigations as soon as possible.

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.

The European Commission announced Monday that it is opening investigations into the adult platforms Pornhub, XVideos, XNXX and Stripchat for what the European Union's executive branch characterizes as suspected breaches of key age assurances provisions in the Digital Services Act (DSA).

According to the commission, investigations into all four of the above platforms focus on potential risks posed to minors of the European Union's member states, but also the absence of effective age verification measures. Initial findings prompting the investigation determined that the platforms currently do not comply with age-appropriate design and mitigation measures and risk assessment, and ensuring a high level of privacy, safety, and security for minors, in particular with age verification tools.

The European Commission also announced that it has reclassified Stripchat, a popular streaming platform with an operational base in Cyprus, as no longer being a very large online platform (VLOP). The DSA defines a VLOP as an online platform with over 45 million users across E.U. member states.

 

Pornhub self blocks French users

Aylo, the company owning the pornhub websites responded to this EU move and to local French censorship demands by self blocking itself from users in France.

 

Reports of a surge in VPN use

Inevitably there will be an uptick in French users resorting to VPNs.  Swiss privacy software maker Proton suggested in a post on X that it's seen a surge in people using its VPN software in France, presumably in a bid to circumvent the porn blocks. VPN services are software tools that create a secure, encrypted tunnel which allows users to hide their IP address - effectively masking their location from websites and service providers seeking to block their users.

In response , French Digital Minister Clara Chappaz posted to her followers on X:

If Aylo prefers to leave France than apply our laws, thats up to them.

Chappaz admitted it's possible to bypass age verification on pornographic platforms by using a VPN, adding:

There will always be a way to circumvent [blocked content], but it [the law] makes it much harder

 

A statement from Pornhub

Pornhub have explained the reasons for the self blocking in a statement by Alex Kekesi, VP Brand and Community, on behalf of Aylo:

We've made the difficult decision to suspend access to our sites (user-uploaded content platforms, including Pornhub, YouPorn, Redtube) in France and instead use our platforms to speak directly to the French people.

French citizens deserve a government and a regulator who are serious about preventing children from accessing adult content. They also deserve laws which protect their privacy and safeguard their sensitive data.

For years, we have attempted to collaborate with the government, by consultation, data sharing and offering pilot project participation. The results of all of this have been clear 203 site-based age verification does not work. It does not protect children, and it exposes the data of millions of French people to privacy breaches and hacks.

Your government won't tell you the truth about this, but we will.

There is a simple, easy-to-implement and immediately available solution to this issue 203 device-based age verification*. All it requires is that the government enforce regulations on three companies 203 Apple, Google and Microsoft 203 the three operating system manufacturers requiring age verification at the device level prior to accessing adult content. The French government refuses to take this simple step and instead are focused on futile and entirely symbolic regulatory actions which are unenforceable, do not protect children and expose your private data.

As of June 4, 2025, millions of consenting adults in France will no longer be able to access our library of thoroughly moderated and consensual adult entertainment on one of the most trusted adult sites in the world 203 a site that, we believe, is better at safeguarding its community than any other user generated content platform, including mainstream social media platforms. Sites like ours, which host legal and regulated porn will no longer be available in France, but thousands of irresponsible porn sites will still be easy to access.

We know people will not stop looking for porn. They just migrate to hundreds of thousands unsafe platforms that have not only chosen to be non-compliant, but also have far fewer, if any, Trust and Safety policies in place. In effect, all data indicates that these laws have just diverted traffic to dangerous websites that have made the conscious decision to act illegally. The way France has chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard and dangerous.

You deserve real solutions to stop minors from accessing adult content. We want to be part of that solution. But this symbolic law will do nothing to protect children. Demand that your government have the courage to get this right.