France, June 4 -- Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn have started blocking French users in protest against a new law requiring adult websites to verify the age of their visitors.

Instead of videos, users in France now see a message explaining the new rules. Parent company Aylo began the suspension on Wednesday afternoon.

The move comes ahead of a 7 June deadline. From that date, all porn sites available in France must prove they are keeping underage users out.

"We're not stigmatising adults who want to consume this content, but we mustn't do so at the expense of protecting our children," France's deputy minister for digital technology, Clara Chappaz, told Europe 1.Privacy dispute

Until now, users could access explicit content by simply clic...