Munich Administrative Court: Pornhub and YouPorn remain blocked for time being
The administrative courts in Munich have provisionally upheld the blocking of two erotic websites, following similar decisions by courts in Berlin and Neustadt.
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The Administrative Court of Munich has ruled in urgent decisions on Thursday that access to the two German-language portals of Pornhub and YouPorn via the provider TelefĂłnica will remain blocked for now (Ref.: M 17 S 25.478 and M 17 S 25.2135). The 17th Chamber has now rejected the urgent applications filed in the fall by the platform operator Aylo, based in Cyprus, to temporarily suspend the access blocks, the court announced. The requests were already inadmissible because the company had "no legally protectable interest in the suspension" of the blocking orders issued against TelefĂłnica.
The Bavarian Regulatory Authority for New Media (BLM) ordered the blockade against the Munich-based access provider in April 2024. The background to this is an enforceable injunction issued against Aylo by the State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (LfM) in June 2020 to ensure the protection of minors, in particular with stricter age controls. The administrative court criticized the portal operator for not complying with this. Furthermore, the injunction has not yet been enforced in Cyprus. Aylo's interest in continuing to allow users in Germany to access its services in breach of the order was therefore "not worthy of protection".
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Previous case law in line
The Chamber's decision is not final. The parties involved have two weeks to lodge an appeal with the Bavarian Administrative Court. However, the case law to date has gone in the same direction. The Munich judges emphasize that their opinion is in line with the administrative courts in Berlin and Neustadt an der WeinstraĂźe, which have previously dealt with similar cases.
In the capital, the media authority Berlin-Brandenburg (mabb) ordered the local provider PĂżur to block access to the two portals from Germany. The administrative court there also rejected Aylo's urgent applications. This was because the content provider was not acting in accordance with the law and instead continued to distribute pornography without restriction. This continued and persistent disregard for applicable law was "reprehensible". A similar announcement was made in Neustadt regarding the blocking orders against 1&1. The providers concerned, which also include Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone, are defending themselves against the orders. The authority of media watchdogs to block porn is fundamentally controversial.
(vbr)
