Fighting exposure of persons under 18 to pornography: Arcom issues formal notice to two new porn sites

Arcom issues formal notice to two pornographic sites after noting the absence of age verification measures on these services, in breach of their legal obligations.

Pursuant to the law of May 21, 2024 aimed at securing and regulating the digital space (SREN law), Arcom continued to monitor the implementation of age verification schemes by pornographic sites, and in early December 2025 sent three letters of observation to three pornographic sites failing to abide by their obligation to implement an age verification scheme at the entrance to their services.

At the end of the period granted to these services from receipt of the letters of observation, Arcom found that two of them had still not implemented an age verification scheme.

As a result, the Authority has decided to issue a formal notice to these two sites, which now have a fortnight to comply, failing which they will be liable, as provided for by law, to measures blocking or delisting their services.

In addition, Arcom will be holding discussions with the third site to receive a letter of observation in December, to ensure the effectiveness of the solutions put in place by the company to prevent person under 18s from accessing its content.

This action against these three pornographic sites is in line with Arcom's strategy, which, after targeting services with the highest number of person under 18s online, is now turning its attention to those with a smaller audience.

Of the 17 pornographic sites designated by the ministerial order of February 26, 2025, all have, for several months now, either implemented age verification solutions (either proactively or following action by Arcom) or - in the case of three of them - voluntarily made their services inaccessible in France.

On all sites whose audience is measured by Médiamétrie, initial data show a significant drop in visits by 12-17 year-olds: between November 2024 and November 2025, they spent 35% less time on the site.

These encouraging figures, which need to be confirmed over time, illustrate the effectiveness of age verification schemes as a practical means of combating the exposure of persons under 18 to pornography.