German society is considered to be one of the most open to erotica and pornography in the world. However, soon several popular adult sites may be completely blocked throughout Germany. This is all due to the lack of cooperation of the sites in introducing proper age verification systems.
As WIRED reports, there is a campaign ongoing in Germany to introduce age verification for users on all adult sites. Due to the unwillingness of some websites to cooperate, the Commission for the Protection of Minors in Media plans to issue an order to block four adult websites.
The chairman of the committee, Marc Jan Eumann, declined to confirm exactly which sites are to be targeted by the legal action, but based on reports it is said that they will be: xHamster, Pornhub, YouPorn and MyDirtyHobby. If the blockade goes into effect, then 83 million Germans will lose access to these sites.
It should be noted here that the reason for the blockade is not the content offered by the websites, but their unwillingness to cooperate and comply with German requests. Apparently, there was no reaction or response from the owners of the xHamster site. Therefore, an order to block the sites can be expected in the coming weeks.
Issuing a warrant is not yet a blockade
However, just because an order would be issued does not mean that the sites would be blocked. In practice, blocking would mean issuing a request to Germany’s largest Internet service providers to block their customers from accessing selected sites.
German Internet companies may challenge the order, finding it against the law. This would not be the first time that Internet providers have been asked and refused to voluntarily block websites. In such a situation, several years of legal dispute can be expected before the blocking takes place.
Widespread censorship of select pornographic sites within a country is not a new thing. In 2017, the Philippine government censored Pornhub just days after the site reported that Filipinos spend more time on their site than any other nationality.
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