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That’s something France seems to have understood when it comes to adult content platforms: instead of blocking them, it chose to regulate, monitor, and verify users’ ages.
But when it comes to electronic cigarettes, the tone changes: additional taxes, a ban on online sales, stricter regulations…
Yet in both cases, the stated goal is the same: protecting minors.
So why two such different approaches?
Adult content platforms like OnlyFans or Pornhub aren’t banned.
They’re restricted to adults, under the supervision of ARCOM and CNIL, which have established a clear framework: age verification, data privacy protection, and penalties for non-compliance.
In other words: access isn’t removed — it’s secured.
When it comes to vaping, however, the public narrative shifts:
banning online sales, increasing taxes, and reducing visibility for specialized shops.
Yet the law already bans sales to minors and requires vendors to verify age.
In short, the framework already exists.
But instead of strengthening it, there’s talk of eliminating it.
In the case of adult platforms, France chose technology:
anonymous age verification managed by a trusted third party — protecting minors without collecting personal data.
The State relies on responsibility, not censorship.
For vaping, the approach seems reversed:
legal actors are penalized (French websites, specialized shops),
safe channels are closed,
and grey markets are left to fill the gap.
The result?
Minors won’t be better protected — just pushed toward less safe, unregulated, often illegally imported products.
Meanwhile, adult smokers will face more barriers to a product that, it’s worth remembering, is perfectly legal.
The upcoming vape tax is presented as a public health measure.
But how can a product recognized for reducing the risks of smoking be taxed the same way as the product it replaces?
Many experts remind us: vaping isn’t harmless, but it’s far less harmful than tobacco.
Making it more expensive or harder to access won’t stop smokers —
it will simply push some back toward cigarettes.
And while we discuss banning online vape sales, adult content platforms continue to benefit from clear, modern, freedom-respecting regulation.
Same goal — protecting the young — but two completely opposite philosophies.
Protecting minors is obvious.
But protecting has never meant banning all access for adults.
France understood that for adult content platforms, combining responsibility, innovation, and respect for freedom.
So why not apply the same logic to vaping?
The problem isn’t technology — it’s consistency.
Banning online vape sales won’t eliminate risks; it will simply move them elsewhere, to uncontrolled, unsafe channels.
Adult platforms remain legal: they’re regulated, verified, and held accountable.
Vaping, already strictly regulated, would instead be punished with a total online sales ban.
Two different topics, one common goal… and two opposing logics.
This contrast says a lot about how some public policies interpret “protecting the young.”
And it raises a question: why ban what could simply be better regulated?
At Smok-it, we believe in a responsible approach to vaping:
regulate, inform, protect — without depriving.
A petition is currently circulating to oppose the ban on online vape sales.
You can sign it here:
Sign the petition to defend responsible vaping
ARCOM — Age verification and child protection
CNIL — Opinion on privacy protection and age verification
French Public Health Code — Articles L3513-4 and L3513-5 (Légifrance)
European Directive 2014/40/EU — Vaping products
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