Arcom and its European counterparts coordinate with the European Commission to protect persons under 18 from online pornography

Arcom and its European counterpart coordinators for digital services, meeting on Monday May 26, agreed with the European Commission on coordinated actions to ensure the implementation of age verification solutions for access to pornographic services available within the European Union.

The RSN, which aims to promote a safer Internet, is a powerful Europe-wide response to improving the protection of persons under 18 online. To this end, the European Commission has put out to public consultation, until June 10, 2025, its draft guidelines for the protection of persons under 18 online, in application of article 28 of the RSN. In line with Arcom's demand, the future guidelines reiterate that "adult" platforms (particularly pornographic ones) must verify the age of their users before allowing access to content prohibited to persons under 18.

The investigations launched today by the European Commission and the actions of the national coordinators for digital services are part of this ambitious regulatory manager. In particular, they will concern the biggest pornographic platforms which the Commission designated several months ago and which, because of their large audience, present the greatest risk of reaching persons under 18. Arcom welcomes the European Commission's determination, and stresses the urgency of implementing effective protection for persons under 18 against online pornography. Arcom will lend its full support to this joint initiative, while pursuing its actions aimed at protecting persons under 18 from pornographic platforms available in France that do not verify the age of their users.

Recent control actions carried out in application of the law of May 21, 2024 aimed at securing and regulating the digital space (SREN law) have demonstrated, on the one hand, their ability to incite the implementation of solutions that are more protective of children, and, on the other, the existence of effective age verification solutions that respect privacy. These solutions, already available on the market, will soon be complemented by a European technical solution developed by the European Commission and EU member states.