The threat has been looming for a long time and it has only just been carried out. From now on in France, it is impossible to access four pornographic sites following a conviction handed down by the Paris Court of Appeal.
Blocking of 4 pornographic sites decided by French justice
It’s on X this Friday that Jean-Noël Barrot, former Minister Delegate in charge of Digital and now Minister of Foreign Affairs welcomed this immense victory.
As a reminder, two child protection associations had seized French justice concerning the age control of visitors which was not sufficient or was not carried out before accessing the content pornographic sites. Last October, the Paris Court of Appeal therefore decided to order the blocking of 4 sites for adults, out of 9 targeted, which did not respect this stage of control of the majority of Internet users. Therefore, the blocking of these platforms must continue until it is demonstrated that the implementation of age control is best achieved by finding a method “other than purely declarative“. Note that this blockage only concerns sites hosted outside the European Union.
Better age control for the protection of minors
As a result, the threat hovering over these adult sites was carried out. Several Internet service providers such as Orange, Free, SFR and Bouygues have applied the sentence handed down by the court. Since this Friday, November 15, four pornographic sites are no longer accessible in our regions. It is sites Tukif, Xhamster, Mrsexe and Icoporno.
Concerning these four sites, they will remain inaccessible until they set up a more thorough verification of the visitor’s age than a simple declaration of honor.
The former Minister Delegate in charge of Digital welcomed this blockage which “is a huge victory in the fight for online child protection“. According to information from Arcom, the French audiovisual regulator, every month, 2.3 million minors consult pornographic sites and more than half of the male population aged 12 visits these platforms monthly.
For the moment, the blocking only concerns these 4 sites mentioned above. However, it could be that others might experience this situation as well. Let us specify that Pornhub and Youporn benefit from a reprieve of the Paris Court of Appeal by having raised a question relating to European law. It will therefore be necessary await feedback from the Court of Justice of the European Union on this point for French justice to render its decision.
