Pornographic websites could be more easily shut down for failing to safeguard children from accessing their content, under the French Government’s proposals.
In a draft Bill presented to ministers, France’s digital regulator Arcom would no longer require a judge’s approval to block a website if it repeatedly refused to implement robust age-verification measures. Arcom would also be given powers to impose a €500,000 maximum fine or six per cent of a firm’s global turnover.
The proposals, which form part of wider legislation on the EU’s Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, is expected to be debated by the summer.
Police
Children in France have been better protected from accessing online pornography since 2020 but most pornographic websites reportedly only require users to click on a button to declare they are over 18.
Minister for Digital Transition and Telecommunications, Jean-Noel Barrot, said that “Arcom could end up blocking Twitter” if it continues to allow pornographic content without verifying users’ ages.
Under the proposals, platforms which fail to tackle child sexual abuse material hosted on their site within 24 hours of being notified by the police could be fined €250,000. Similar sanctions apply to firms which fail to remove terrorist content.
Online Safety Bill
In the UK, age verification checks were approved under the Digital Economy Act 2017, but plans to implement them were abandoned in October 2019.
Baroness Jenkin of Kennington warned earlier this year that “we cannot console ourselves” if children are only protected from graphic materials used in schools, while they continue to be exposed to violent online pornography.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, she backed Lord Bethell’s proposed amendments to the Online Safety Bill, which would introduce age-verification measures to prevent children from viewing pornography wherever it is found online.
The Online Safety Bill is currently at Committee Stage in the House of Lords.
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