Pornhub and YouPorn blocked in France, here are the big winners

Since June 4, French Internet users can no longer access three major pornographic sites, namely Pornhub, YouPorn, and RedTube. While this blocking decision by Aylo, which owns these sites, may harm fans of this type of video, know that this decision benefits some.

The standoff between pornographic sites and the French government

As you have certainly heard in the media, a standoff has begun between the French government and the Aylo group, which owns three pornographic sites that attract millions of Internet users every day. Faced with the French government's obligation to ask adult video platforms to verify the age of visitors to protect minors, the owner of the sites Pornhub, YouPorn and RedTube has decided not to comply.

The Aylo group argues that asking Internet users to prove their majority by repeatedly providing personal data represented a risk of leakage that it did not want to impose on its visitors.

Poll: Porn: Do you understand the decision of these sites to block French Internet users?

So, since Wednesday, June 4, 2025, if you visit one of these three sites, you are simply unable to access the video catalog. Instead, you will find the message "Freedom has no off button" with an illustration showing Marianne from the painting Liberty Leading the People accompanied by a text to justify this decision, which quickly prompted a reaction from the Minister Delegate for Digital Affairs.

Blocking pornographic sites that benefit some

However, even if the block is effective, there is a solution to circumvent it, and for that, you have to turn to VPNs. Using this virtual private network allows you, through an application or software, to hide your location by changing your IP address. Thus, with this tool, you are no longer considered to be an Internet user from France. And many smart people have thought of this.

So much so that the big winners in blocking Pornhub and YouPorn are VPN providers. Proof of this is the record number of registrations with Proton VPN and NordVPN. Since Wednesday, the leading provider has recorded a 1000% increase in registrations from 5:30 p.m., 30 minutes after the X-rated sites were blocked.

5 PM - PornHub blocks France from accessing its website

5.30 PM - @ProtonVPN registrations increase by 1,000%

For context, this is more than when TikTok blocked Americans. pic.twitter.com/gVZynD5hPS

— Proton VPN (@ProtonVPN) June 4, 2025

For NordVPN, the increase is 170% since Wednesday in the country. NordVPN reminds us that this kind of spike has always been observed when "digital freedoms are threatened or where content is censored".

So if you want to continue enjoying Pornhub, all you have to do is call Captain NordVPN aka Le Joueur du Grenier!