The battle against pornographic websites has taken a new turn in France. Since Friday, November 15th, four pornographic websites have no longer been accessible in the country after being blocked by telecom operators for failing to comply with legislation passed to protect minors. This is the first time that such a measure has been taken and effectively enforced.
The measure follows a judgement handed down in October by the Paris court of appeal, which ordered the blocking of four websites for failing to check the age of users. Since 2020, the law has required sites with adult content to have an age verification system that is not simply declaratory. Since then, the platforms have been using every possible means to evade the application of the law.
The case was brought before the court by two child protection associations, La Voix de l’enfant and e-Enfance. At their request, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled that “the best interests of the child” were an “overriding consideration,” which had to take precedence over “other rights such as freedom of expression.” Four sites, hosted outside the European Union, were therefore blocked.
Of the four internet providers in France, three have blocked the sites: SFR, Bouygues and Orange. The fourth provider, Free, is maintaining access to the offending sites.
The associations that have gone to court deny that they want to fight pornography in itself—but claim that their main motivation is to protect children. According to the Autorité de Régulation de la Communication Audiovisuelle et Numérique (Arcom), 2.3 million minors visit pornographic websites every month. From the age of 12, more than half of all boys using the Internet visit these sites on average every month. Until a more satisfactory technical solution is found, Arcom recommends that age verification be carried out by entering credit card details when accessing the site.
The system is not perfect, however, and the French Banking Federation is concerned about the risk of phishing. For Justine Atlan, managing director of the association e-Enfance, this solution is better than nothing: “Today, 100% of minors have access to pornography. So if tomorrow there were only 50%, that would be a major step forward,” she told Libération.
While only four sites are currently affected by the block, others are likely to follow, as they are not the only ones to have failed to comply with the regulations on access by minors. Other porn giants, such as Pornhub and Youporn, are in the sights of the French authorities. The Paris Court of Appeal simply granted them a stay of execution, because these platforms, which are hosted in the European Union, raised an issue relating to European law. They believe that the requested blocking “would constitute a restrictive measure prohibited by the principle of the free movement of information services” in the EU. The French courts must therefore await a response from the Court of Justice of the European Union before making a final decision.
