ZWEIBRÜCKEN, Germany — The Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate on Thursday upheld a “network ban” on Aylo-owned adult sites Pornhub and YouPorn for failing to comply with German age verification regulations.
As XBIZ reported in May, the network ban was ordered by Germany’s federal media regulator, which in 2023 instructed telecom providers Telekom, Vodafone, Telefónica and 1&1 to initiate the blocking process.
That action came in response to a campaign by the State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LfM), which has targeted adult sites as part of a crusade to enforce certain provisions of Germany’s Youth Media Protection Interstate Treaty (JMStV). Those provisions require that pornographic sites accessible in Germany meticulously verify visitors’ ages via methods such as ID or biometric facial scans.
Both Aylo and network provider Vodafone filed suits against the ban, and the two cases have been making their way through the German courts in parallel. Vodafone has reportedly maintained that the European Union’s Digital Services Act, rather than the JMStV, is the authoritative regulator for protecting minors online.
In a press release issued Thursday, the Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate — which is subordinate only to Germany’s Federal Court of Justice — rejected Aylo’s appeal to stay the blocking order, and declared that the order can be enforced.
The court criticized Aylo for failing to comply with previous court decisions and stated that the company could achieve its goal of suspending the blocking order by complying with the original requirement to implement age checks under the JMStV.
