News

EU Court: France Can Require Foreign Sites to Implement AV

June 16, 2026

LUXEMBOURG — The European Union’s Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that France may require pornographic websites based in other EU states to implement age verification in accordance with French law, as long as France follows EU electronic commerce rules.

The 15-judge Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered the ruling in a case involving WebGroup Czech Republic, which operates XVideos.com, and NKL Associates, which operates XNXX.com.

XVideos and XNXX were among several websites that Arcom called out in 2025 for failing to implement age verification as required under France’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.

As XBIZ reported last year, the two companies appealed to France’s Council of State, the nation’s highest administrative court, contending that French media regulator Arcom does not have the power to compel sites based outside of France to follow French AV regulations. The companies argued that such action by Arcom would violate the “country of origin” principle in the EU’s Directive on Electronic Commerce, which states that online platforms “should be supervised at the source of the activity” and “should in principle be subject to the law of the Member State in which the service provider is established.”

The French Council of State asked the EU Court of Justice to advise on the matter, and the court held a hearing in March 2025.

In September, Advocate General Maciej Szpunar delivered a nonbinding legal opinion in the case, which stated that the obligation of websites to prevent minors from accessing adult content does fall within the Directive’s “coordinated field,” meaning that the rule can apply to sites from other EU member states as well.

The Court of Justice has now reaffirmed that opinion, upholding France’s right to require adult sites based in other EU states to implement age verification as long as France follows the Directive’s requisite procedures. Those include first asking the state of origin to adopt necessary measures for protecting minors, and then — if the state of origin fails to adequately adopt and implement such measures — notifying the European Commission and the state of origin of the plan to adopt additional restrictive measures.

It will now be up to France’s Council of State to move forward on the case. In light of the EU court’s decision, France is almost certain to give internet service providers the go-ahead to block adult sites if requested to do so by Arcom after taking the steps listed above.

The ruling sets an important precedent for other EU member states on matters of jurisdiction involving age verification laws.

Anti-Porn Senator Introduces Federal Age Verification Bill

June 11, 2026

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Jim Banks of Indiana, who last month urged the Department of Justice to ramp up obscenity prosecutions, on Wednesday introduced a bill that would make age verification by adult websites federal law.

S 4741, titled the “Safety and Age Filtering Enforcement for Kids Act of 2026” or the “SAFE for Kids Act of 2026,” would require websites to age-verify users if more than one-third of hosted material is deemed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to be “sexual material harmful to minors.”

The bill largely resembles various state-level AV laws, but includes a “triple threat” enforcement regime. If the bill were to become law, it would not only enable the FTC to pursue civil penalties against alleged violators but would also allow the Department of Justice to pursue criminal charges, with “knowing” violations punishable by million-dollar fines and five-year prison sentences for company officers, directors or employees. In addition, the bill grants a broad private right of action, so any citizen could sue site operators for damages.

Pornography has become a signature issue for Banks, who in May urged Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to reestablish the Department of Justice’s defunct Obscenity Prosecution Task Force in a letter that repeatedly conflated obscenity with constitutionally protected speech.

The SAFE for Kids Act has been referred to the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Whether it gains traction may depend in part on how current efforts to enact broader online safety legislation play out. The proposed Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, which would likewise make age verification by adult websites federal law, appears stalled for the moment and has been vocally opposed by some 44 state attorneys general, who argue that its protections are too weak.

If that legislation fails, the federal AV rule could still be addressed separately via Banks’ bill or the SCREEN Act, which similarly proposes a federal AV mandate. However, the SCREEN Act has so far also failed to advance.

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Polish Government Proposes AV Mandate for Adult Sites

June 5, 2026

WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s Council of Ministers on Tuesday endorsed a proposed national law that would require sites and platforms to age-verify users to prevent minors from accessing adult content online.

Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Michał Gramatyka called the proposed Act on the Protection of Minors Against Access to Pornographic Content “crucial.”

“Websites containing such content are currently not effectively protected against access, often accidental, by minors,” Gramatyka said.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the bill “does not impose specific technical solutions on providers, but rather specifies which age verification mechanisms are recommended.”

The ministry is advocating for the use of the European Digital Identity Wallet in implementing new AV requirements, explained Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Dariusz Standerski.

“We plan to launch secure and anonymous age verification by the end of 2026,” Standerski said.

Under the proposed new law, telecommunications companies would be required to block access to sites that fail to comply with age verification requirements. Noncompliant sites could also face financial penalties.

The bill must still make its way through Poland’s parliament, as well as gain the approval of President Karol Nawrocki, who earlier this year vetoed a bill that would have implemented the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) in Poland, including the DSA’s age verification provisions.

Poland has lagged behind other EU states in conforming to DSA requirements and may face punitive action from the European Commission over its failure to enforce DSA rules.