Blocking terrorist and child pornography websites: jurisdiction transferred to Arcom and publication by the French national data protection agency of the qualified personality's 2021 activity report.

Reminder of the legal framework

The law of November 13, 2014 on the fight against terrorism allows websites provoking or condoning acts of terrorism to be blocked by an administrative authority, as well as sites containing pornographic representations of persons under 18. It also allows administrative authorities to take measures to remove and delist such content, by issuing orders to publishers, hosting providers and search engines.

To avoid any disproportionate or abusive measures, the law subjects the scheme to the control of a qualified person appointed from among its members by the competent authority.

The qualified person verifies the validity of requests for content removal, blocking and delisting made by the Office central de lutte contre la criminalité liée aux technologies de l'information et de la communication (OCLCTIC). If it considers that these demands do not comply with current legislation, it issues notices with a view to lifting the blocking or removal measures. In the event of difficulty, it may refer the matter to the administrative court. As part of its action, it is provided with dedicated technical means for accessing blocked sites or the content of online public communication services. Agents of the authority assist the qualified person in his mission.

Streaming the competence of the French national data protection agency to Arcom

As of June 7, 2022, control over the administrative blocking, removal and delisting of content on terrorist and child pornography websites will be carried out by the qualified person appointed by Arcom: Ms Laurence Pécaut-Rivolier, a member of the final court of appeal and a member of Arcom's college since January 1, 2022. She succeeds Alexandre Linden, Honorary Advisor to the final court of appeal and Chairman of the French national data protection agency's Restricted Section.

This is also the date on which the TCO Regulation (Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 29, 2021 on combating the dissemination of terrorist content online) will come into force, with effect from June 6, 2021. Its main aim is to have platforms such as Facebook or Twitter revoke terrorist content on the internet within one hour. It will be up to the legislator to designate the qualified personality who will be brought in to verify the measures taken under this new manager.

"I am delighted that a judicial magistrate is taking over from a judicial magistrate to exercise this sensitive competence". Alexandre Linden

"It's a mission that is both essential and sensitive. It involves ensuring that protection against the most serious attacks on the very foundations of life in society, such as child pornography or apology for terrorism, is not achieved at the expense of the foundation of democratic life, namely freedom of expression. The balance between these imperatives will be my guiding principle, as it was for my predecessor." Laurence Pécaut-Rivolier

Review of the seventh year of control

The French national data protection agency (CNIL) today published the latest annual report by Alexandre Linden, a qualified member of the CNIL.

The report shows a considerable increase in the number of unlawful content items investigated by the OCLCTIC, and therefore verified by the qualified person.

In 2021,137,953 OCLCTIC requests to restrict access to terrorist or child pornography content were verified by the qualified personality, representing a 250% increase on 2020.

2021 figures

• 133,295 requests to remove content, up 264% on 2020
• 439 requests to block sites, down 16% on 2020
• 4,219 requests to delist e-mail addresses, a slight increase of 2% on 2020.

As a result of these verifications, the qualified expert has issued 4 notices to the French Ministry of the Interior.

The report of the French national data protection agency (in French)