🟢 Pornhub "fight" isn’t about morality—it’s about preserving frictionless monetization
This weeks we talk about tits. Sort of. As Pornhub is "fighting" for consumers rights and individual liberties in Europe, it would be easy to get pulled in a debate about morality and personal freedom, when they really couldn't care less.
The context
On June 4, 2025, Pornhub, YouPorn, and RedTube suspended access to their websites in France to protest a new law requiring strict age verification for adult content. The law mandates that users prove they are over 18 by submitting ID documents or sensitive information like credit card details.
Aylo, the company behind these sites, criticized the measure as invasive, ineffective in protecting minors, and a threat to user privacy. Instead, they proposed age verification at the operating system level, involving companies like Apple, Google, or Microsoft.
French authorities welcomed the shutdown, saying it would help reduce minors' access to adult content. According to France's media regulator Arcom, around 2.3 million minors visit porn sites each month in the country.
It's just business
When Pornhub—or Meta for that matter—frames their legal and PR battles as a noble defense of “freedom of expression,” what they’re really defending is the sanctity of zero-friction attention harvesting. No friction, no clicks. No clicks, no ad revenue. It’s not about liberty, it’s about their core business model.
Pornhub is just Facebook with tits.
