BERLIN—The Cyprus-based subsidiary of Aylo Holdings was handed a legal defeat in the Berlin Administrative Court on Wednesday upholding a nationwide geoblock that explicitly prevents German pornography consumers from accessing Pornhub and YouPorn, per an expedited ruling in favor of state media regulators.
The court found that Aylo's popular tube properties continue to be in violation of regulatory and statutory efforts to ensure that only adult users can access such material. Such a ruling is a win in a series of age verification regulatory interventions instigated by the state media authority of North Rhine-Westphalia and Dr. Tobias Schmid, agency head.
The ruling of the Berlin Administrative Court can be appealed to the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg, the highest court for both the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg. Such an appeal can be elevated to the Leipzig-based Federal Administrative Court, which is the supreme administrative court of Germany.
"The content provider had no legitimate interest in suspending the blocking orders issued against the access provider," reads a press statement issued by the Berlin court, translated from German by AVN. "The blocking order would not have been necessary if the content provider had acted in accordance with the law. Instead, it continued to distribute pornographic content without restriction and made it accessible to everyone, despite the immediately enforceable prohibition."
As AVN reported on the cusp of Aylo's websites being blocked throughout all of Germany, a similar ruling was reached in 2023 by the Düsseldorf Administrative Court, which also provided a decision requiring the popular pornography company to comply with Germany's national age verification requirements.
Dr. Schmid’s agency provides legal definitions of what German law defines as porn.
“Straightforward pornography” is a legal term that “refers to all sexual images which in their drastic directness degrade humans to simple interchangeable objects of sexual lust or activities of all kinds in a manner to encourage sexual urges."
Schmid’s agency also provides guidelines on age verification platforms.
“It is legal to disseminate images like this on the internet, but they must not be freely accessible. The provider must use closed user groups to ensure that only adults have access to this content. Age verification systems ... or age testing systems are employed for this purpose,” says the regulator.
“We firmly believe age verification can make the internet a safer space for everyone when it is done right,” notes a July 2023 post published on the Pornhub blog addressing age-gating laws in the United States. Aylo is a plaintiff in pending high-profile litigation in the U.S. Supreme Court brought by private counsel and the American Civil Liberties Union, challenging an age verification law in the politically conservative state of Texas.
In the European Union market, Aylo owns and operates Pornhub, YouPorn and MyDirtyHobby, as well as premium platforms like Brazzers and TransAngels.
