Pornhub and four other sites hosting sexually explicit content face a possible ban in France after the country's media regulator said Tuesday it had filed a legal complaint against them.

The sites were told in late 2021 that they needed to bring in a system that prevented children from viewing their videos.

Under a new French law passed in July 2020, website operators cannot simply ask a user if they are over 18.

The head of France's Arcom media regulator, Roch-Olivier Maistre, told reporters on Tuesday that a case had been filed at a Paris court after the operators ignored previous warnings.

"If justice rules in favour, these websites will no longer be accessible from French territory or via addresses registered in France," the regulator said in a statement.

The websites targeted are Pornhub, the world's biggest pornography site by user numbers, as well as Tukif, Xhamster, Xnxx and Xvideos.

Xhamster is another porn site being targeted. Photo: Shutterstock.com

At the end of December, Portugal-based Tukif launched a legal appeal against the crackdown, claiming it was discriminatory because other sites were not included. 

The ban, if approved by the court, would see internet operators in France ordered to prevent users from accessing content posted on the websites, Arcom said.

They would instead display a page explaining the restrictions.