Pornhub websites were pulled from the US state of Utah in May after they were ordered to verify the ages of users. — Dreamstime
Paris: Governments should stop cracking down on porn websites and instead take pride in sexual expression and help to make porn normal and “boring”, the new owner of Pornhub said.
Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners bought Pornhub’s parent MindGeek three months ago, bringing under its control a stable of other sites including YouPorn.
The acquisition has also brought a sea of legal troubles.
Its websites were pulled from the US state of Utah in May after they were ordered to verify the ages of users.
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In France, website owners and regulators have been locked in talks for months on how to make a 2020 age verification law work in practice.
Two of MindGeek’s sites have not put in place any age verification and face a court ruling on July 7 that could ban them.
“We do not want any underage users on our websites whatsoever,” said ECP founder Solomon Friedman.
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But he pushed back on the idea that the onus should fall on the websites, instead calling for the operating systems to find a solution.
“We are strongly in support of age verification solutions that do two things: protect children effectively and do not expose personal data,” he said.
“The only solution that accomplishes both of these goals is device or browser-based verification,” he said, adding that it would be “a very simple step for Google and Apple”. — AFP
