In Germany the air for well-known porn portals is getting thinner and thinner. The Düsseldorf Administrative Court has ruled that authorities can block the website. The German protection of minors should also apply to Pornhub, YouPorn and Mydirtyhobby.

Porn portals: German court allows network blocking

According to a decision by the Düsseldorf Administrative Court, German authorities are allowed to respond to the lack of protection for minors on porn portals by blocking the network. Blocking is justified if, despite being requested to do so no age verification is carried out, it is said. Specifically, it’s about Pornhub, YouPorn and Mydirtyhobby.

According to the state media authority of North Rhine-Westphalia, a system for verifying the user age is “not only legally mandatory, but also technically very easy” to implement. As an alternative, the operators of the three portals could Exclude Germany from their offer.

During the process, the portal operator’s lawyers stated that they had already entered special label to use on their websites. This can be recognized by youth protection programs and access for people under 18 can be prevented, it is said. According to the court, however, only 15 to 25 percent of parents would have such a program in use (source: mirrors).

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Porn websites: Access can be blocked via provider

The state media authority of North Rhine-Westphalia could obtain an access block through the provider. They could be obliged to prevent access to Pornhub, YouPorn and Mydirtyhobby within Germany. With a German IP address that would be Access is then no longer possible.

The often criticized xHamster portal is also under pressure in Germany. The operators are accused of not being energetic enough take action against illegal content. A network lock could also threaten here.