France’s audiovisual regulator ARCOM said five major pornography websites—Xvideos, Xhamster, XNXX, XhamsterLive and TnaFlix—have installed third-party age-verification systems after being served formal notices on 1 August for non-compliance with the country’s 2024 SREN online-safety law. Because the sites now check that users are adults without retaining identifying data, ARCOM has suspended planned blocking orders but warned it will audit the technical solutions and extend scrutiny to smaller platforms that remain outside the regime. In a separate move, U.S. game distributor Valve has begun requiring all United Kingdom Steam users to register a credit card before viewing or purchasing titles flagged as “mature content.” The measure, rolled out on 29 August, is designed to meet forthcoming obligations under the UK’s Online Safety Act, which tasks platforms with preventing minors from accessing harmful material. Valve said the credit-card check protects user privacy better than selfie-based systems adopted by some rivals; users without a card will be barred from adult-rated game pages and community hubs. The twin actions underscore the acceleration of age-gating mandates in Europe, where regulators are pressuring a widening range of digital services—from pornography to video games—to verify users’ ages or risk fines, blocking orders or loss of features.