ZWEIBRÜCKEN, Germany—The Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate announced Thursday that it upheld a network ban Aylo-owned websites Pornhub and YouPorn within Germany's digital space for failure to comply with age verification rules. This higher administrative court's order serves as a win for state-level media and digital regulators.
"The Rhineland-Palatinate Media Authority's order to block two pornographic websites based on the State Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media is immediately enforceable," the court announced today.
In the order, the court refers to the Rhineland-Palatinate Media Authority being the state media regulator enforcing rules that were initially campaigned for by the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia and its director, Dr. Tobias Schmid. AVN has previously reported on efforts by Dr. Schmid to enforce a national age verification regime by relying on legal loopholes that allow single state entities to decide whole enforcement actions.
"The Rhineland-Palatinate Media Authority has stated repeatedly that the blocking order would become obsolete as soon as the applicant complies with the immediately enforceable basic order," the Rhineland-Palatinate court said. Of note, the Berlin Administrative Court ruled in May 2025 that the network ban was justified as state media regulators were found to have the ability to enforce media regulations across all of Germany.
Likely, Aylo and other impacted companies that have sued since the implementation of national age verification requirements will appeal to higher courts, and likely the Federal Administrative Court.
The Federal Administrative Court is the supreme administrative court of final instance on matters related to interpreting administrative law. While the Federal Court of Justice is often used as a final instance for criminal and civil cases, administrative cases are thus appealed from administrative courts to higher administrative courts.
