The subject has been a real headache for the government for several years.
The Superior Audiovisual Council has ordered the pornographic sites Pornhub, Tukif, Xhamster, Xvideos, Xnxx to restrict their access to minors, on pain of complete blocking, according to the notices published Monday on the regulator's site.
"We appeal to the responsibility of operators who must put in place the necessary devices to prevent minors from accessing their content," demanded the CSA.
The Penal Code prohibits exposing minors to pornographic photos and videos and the law on domestic violence of July 30, 2020 specifies that the companies concerned cannot exonerate themselves from their responsibilities by simply asking an Internet user if he is major.
Because these sites often contain only a simple “disclaimer”, in other words a warning message allowing the Internet user to declare to be of age, for the sole measure aimed at restricting their access by minors.
Since the entry into force of this law, the president of the CSA can seize the president of the judicial court to request the blocking of the offending sites to the providers of Internet access.
Young people more and more exposed
The CSA took this decision after being informed at the end of November 2020 by three associations, the Observatory for parenthood and digital education (Open), the National Union of Family Associations (Unaf) and the French Council of Associations for the rights of the child (Cofrade), which initially targeted eight pornographic sites.
For months, several associations for the protection of children have been sounding the alarm bells in the face of the upsurge in the viewing of violent and very raw images by increasingly young minors.
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"A minor, and in particular a child who finds himself in front of unsuitable content, such as pornographic content, can be durably, and at least, shocked", argued the control body.
"With these decisions, the regulator ensures, in accordance with the law, its mission of protecting minors," she added.
Among the five sites put on notice, Pornhub and Xhamster, established in Cyprus, belong to the porn giant MindGeek, also owner of YouPorn, which is legally domiciled in Luxembourg.
Xvideos and Xnxx are installed in the Czech Republic and Tukif in Portugal.
If this obligation is not respected within 15 days, they run the risk of blocking their access.