Access by minors to pornographic content: Arcom publishes its guidelines

Every month, 2.3 million minors, some of them very young, visit pornographic websites, access to which should be prevented under the Criminal Code, given the serious consequences that early exposure to such content can have. 

In order to provide better protection for young internet users and to strengthen the existing system, the law of 21 May 2024 (known as the "SREN" law) gave Arcom the power to sanction and administratively block pornographic websites that fail to comply with their criminal obligation to prevent minors from accessing their content. The legislator also asked Arcom to adopt a set of standards setting out the minimum technical requirements for age verification systems used to access services broadcasting pornographic content.

The day after the law was passed by Parliament, Arcom submitted a draft reference framework for public consultation, which was at the same time notified to the European Commission. It was then sent to the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL), which issued a favourable opinion on 26 September.

On Wednesday 09 October 2024, the Arcom college adopted the reference framework required by law. The services concerned will have to comply within three months. Its requirements cover both the reliability of age verification and respect for users' privacy. During the preparatory work, many providers of age verification solutions approached Arcom to present their solutions.

Arcom invites pornographic sites to implement the most protective solutions without delay. However, for a transitional period of three months, to enable them to identify and implement an age verification solution that meets all these requirements, the services will be able to implement solutions using bank cards, in order to protect the youngest users without delay.

The Authority reiterates that, to be effective, the supervision of minors' access to these digital services, and more generally the protection of minors online, cannot be based solely on age verification.

With this in mind, the regulator recently responded to the European Commission's call for contributions* on the protection of minors online, suggesting that the European Digital Services Regulation (DSR) be implemented as a matter of priority on sites that allow minors to access pornographic content, and that it be implemented more strictly on very large platforms. Arcom also invited the Commission and all European regulators to consider the emergence of improved, easy-to-use, interoperable digital parenting support tools that are widely known by the general public.

The technical repository on age verification for the protection of minors against online pornography
*Arcom's contribution to the European Commission