France to block 5 porn sites unless they bring in measures to verify users are over 18
Adam Sage, Paris
Tuesday December 28 2021, 12.01am GMT, The Times
The French government will block five widely watched pornography websites unless they introduce measures to verify that users are aged over 18, officials have said.
The move brings France into line with Germany in taking action against sites that fail to prevent children from accessing adult content.
The two countries have some of the strictest rules in the developed world for tackling the issue. By contrast, child safety groups in Britain have denounced what they say is the government’s failure to impose effective age-verification measures for adult sites.
France’s Higher Audiovisual Council has given the sites Pornhub, xHamster, Xvideos, XNXX and Tukif until today to comply with a law introduced last year that makes age verification compulsory for adult content.
The council said the sites were breaking the law by doing no more than asking users to click on a box saying they were over 18. “Children faced by such content can suffer lasting shock at the very least,” it said. If effective verification was not implemented, it said, it would ask a judge to block the sites.
Age-assurance measures can include demanding a photograph or an identity document, or checking bank accounts, credit cards or mobile phone contracts. The verification procedure is generally undertaken by a specialist company.
Justine Atlan, director of the child safety association e-Enfance, said: “It is important to put pornography sites under pressure so they cannot continue to flout the legal framework to which they have themselves agreed.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/france-to-block-five-porn-sites-unless-they-bring-in-measures-to-verify-users-are-over-18-02nb32b5s
Tuesday December 28 2021, 12.01am GMT, The Times
The French government will block five widely watched pornography websites unless they introduce measures to verify that users are aged over 18, officials have said.
The move brings France into line with Germany in taking action against sites that fail to prevent children from accessing adult content.
The two countries have some of the strictest rules in the developed world for tackling the issue. By contrast, child safety groups in Britain have denounced what they say is the government’s failure to impose effective age-verification measures for adult sites.
France’s Higher Audiovisual Council has given the sites Pornhub, xHamster, Xvideos, XNXX and Tukif until today to comply with a law introduced last year that makes age verification compulsory for adult content.
The council said the sites were breaking the law by doing no more than asking users to click on a box saying they were over 18. “Children faced by such content can suffer lasting shock at the very least,” it said. If effective verification was not implemented, it said, it would ask a judge to block the sites.
Age-assurance measures can include demanding a photograph or an identity document, or checking bank accounts, credit cards or mobile phone contracts. The verification procedure is generally undertaken by a specialist company.
Justine Atlan, director of the child safety association e-Enfance, said: “It is important to put pornography sites under pressure so they cannot continue to flout the legal framework to which they have themselves agreed.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/france-to-block-five-porn-sites-unless-they-bring-in-measures-to-verify-users-are-over-18-02nb32b5s
