After the warning comes the punishment.
Arcom (ex-CSA) took legal action on March 8 and requested the blocking of 5 pornographic sites: Pornhub, Pornhub, XHamster, Xnxx and Xvidéos.
The audiovisual policeman had sent an injunction to the platforms and left 15 days to comply with the law.
The reports of bailiffs received by the authority show that the hosts did not respect these deadlines.
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Since the vote on the law against domestic violence in 2020, an amendment specifies that sites can no longer be satisfied with asking Internet users to declare that they are of legal age by clicking on a simple box.
With the entry into force of this legislation and the implementing decree published in October, Arcom has the ability to take legal action.
Depending on the judge's decision, internet service providers will be forced or not to block access to the incriminated sites.
In case of blocking, visitors to the pornographic site will be redirected to a dedicated Arcom page.
No official instructions
Distributors of pornographic content are therefore required, in theory, to check the age of their visitors.
But how ?
To date, there is no legal method to achieve this.
The regulator itself has never given any guidelines to the platforms.
In its opinion issued on June 3, 2021, the National Commission for Computing and Freedoms (Cnil) decreed that a verification system which collects information on the identity of Internet users would, in this context, be illegal and risky.
“
Such data collection would indeed present significant risks for the persons concerned since their sexual orientation – real or supposed – could be deduced from the content viewed and directly linked to their identity
”, warns the private data constable.
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Faced with these legal contradictions, Senator Les Républicains Marie Mercier, rapporteur for the amendment, recalled in November that it is up to the sites to find a solution: "
I don't want to know how they are doing, but they have to find a solution .
The law is the law.
»
Inexpensive solutions
As for pornographic sites, the option put forward is to use third-party verifiers, companies specializing in identity verification.
They serve as intermediaries between sites and users, guaranteeing anonymity in passing.
These services can be bought “
from 500 euros
”, as indicated by Grégory Dorcel, general manager of the Dorcel group to AFP.
The platforms' reluctance to regulate stems from their economic model.
Most of their revenue comes from advertising.
By blocking the entry of some audiences, or discouraging others, their incomes risk collapsing.
However, it remains difficult to gauge the impact of such measures, the players remaining very discreet about their audiences and the sums collected.
