Good news for the protection of children against pornography!

The news at the start of summer 2025 was marked by several victories in the battle to protect children from internet pornography. In France, the European Union, and the United States, the lines are shifting when it comes to age verification on pornographic websites.

France: The saga continues

On July 15, 2025, in the latest episode of the French saga on the obligation for pornographic websites to verify the age of their users, the Council of State reinstated this obligation for websites based in other European Union countries. It had been referred to the Council by the government, following a decision taken on June 16 by the Paris Administrative Court in summary proceedings initiated by Hammy Media, the owner of a pornographic website. The court had suspended the interministerial decree of February 26, 2025, which imposed this obligation on seventeen websites. This decision appeared to have been obtained with great difficulty, as the company had to try twice to get it: in a decision on May 2 that went relatively unnoticed, the Paris Administrative Court had initially refused to suspend the text, in the absence of an emergency situation. While the imminent entry into force of the decree had led the Aylo group to suspend the distribution of its pornographic platforms in France in early June as a sign of protest, the June 16 decision led to their reinstatement. Ultimately, the Council of State took into account the fact that the contested text does not prohibit the distribution of pornography to adults and considered that the condition of urgency, necessary to grant the suspension requested by the pornographic industry, was not met: “the company (...) does not demonstrate that this measure causes serious and immediate harm to its economic situation.” Since July 15, internet users wishing to visit Pornhub are once again greeted by a screen displaying the message “Freedom has an off switch, for now.”

A new episode in this saga will soon be played out, in which the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) will play the leading role, as it has been asked by France to give a preliminary ruling on the question of French law regulating access to pornographic websites based elsewhere in the European Union. In order to circumvent French law requiring age verification, the porn industry invokes the “country of origin principle” resulting from the 2000 e-commerce directive as interpreted by the CJEU in its November 9, 2023, Google Ireland ruling. In essence, the Court ruled that this principle prevents measures in force in one Member State from applying to services established in another Member State in the area coordinated by the Directive. The Court thus appeared to give precedence to the free movement of digital services over the protection of children, while some saw this as a way of telling the European Union that it must legislate to protect children.

European Union: from theory to practice

Legislating is precisely what the European Parliament set out to do on June 17, 2025.

Taking advantage of the recast of the 2011 European Directive on combating sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, MEPs adopted an amendment to the text that requires states to criminalize the distribution of pornography online without the implementation of a robust age verification tool. MEPs seem to have recognized the undeniable link between children's exposure to pornography and the sexual abuse and exploitation they suffer. Such exposure is itself a form of sexual violence. It also appears to be one of the causes of sexual violence against children, particularly by other children who reproduce the behavior they see online. Any prevention of sexual abuse therefore necessarily involves preventing minors from accessing online pornography. The ECLJ is pleased to have contributed successfully to the adoption of this amendment, thanks to various contacts in the European Parliament, an op-ed in the press, and the conference held on June 10 at the European Parliament organized by MEP Margarita de la Pisa (Spain, Vox) in collaboration with the ECLJ on the theme “Children's exposure to pornography: a form of sexual abuse?”. This is a step forward, but vigilance remains essential as negotiations with the Council still have to take place before the text is finally adopted.

From a practical point of view, the European Commission is also committed to protecting minors online, as on July 14 it published guidelines on this issue and presented a prototype age verification app. These measures should enable the correct and effective application of the European Digital Services Regulation adopted in 2022, Article 28 of which states that “Providers of online platforms accessible to minors shall implement appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security of minors on their service” (paragraph 1). The guidelines, which the Commission will use as a basis for assessing platforms' compliance with the regulation, include a non-exhaustive list of recommended measures to protect children online, in particular from harmful content, including pornography, which is specifically targeted. As for the European online age verification app, it is entering the testing phase in France, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Denmark. It is designed to be robust and privacy-friendly. It is based on the principle of double anonymity, whereby the issuer of the proof of age does not know the recipient, who does not receive any other personal data about the user. The application can be customized by individual states and integrated into a national application or offered as a standalone service.

United States: Age verification in line with the US Constitution

Finally, across the Atlantic, on June 27, the US Supreme Court ruled in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton that requiring pornographic websites to verify the age of their users is constitutional, particularly in light of the First Amendment protecting freedom of expression. The Court therefore did not uphold the pornography industry's challenge to Texas law H.B. 1181, arguing that it had the effect of impermissibly hindering adults' access to content to which they are entitled.

Applying the logical principle that what is prohibited offline must also be prohibited online, the Court found that Texas had merely adapted an existing real-world obligation to the digital world. It further found that the interference with adult freedom of expression was only incidental, since adults could “fully access the content in question after taking the modest step of providing proof of their age.” This rational decision thus gives primacy to the interests of the child, which are often sacrificed in this area to the interests of adults in being able to freely consume pornography, themselves invoked by a pornography industry that protects its financial interests at the expense of children's rights.