Online pornography: new steps taken to protect persons under 18

In accordance with the law of May 21, 2024 aimed at securing and regulating the digital space (SREN law), Arcom now has the power to financially sanction, block and delist pornographic sites left accessible to persons under 18 in infringement of French criminal law, whether they are established in France or outside the European Union, as well as those located in the European Union as long as they are listed on a ministerial order.

Services showing pornographic content are required to ensure that minors cannot access them, and yet are widely browsed by minors in France. In fact, according to an Arcom study based on audience data supplied by Médiamétrie for the first half of 2024, almost 40% of children access these sites every month.

To achieve this, pornographic sites must implement an age verification scheme to ensure that their users are of legal age. After consultation with the French national data protection agency, Arcom has adopted technical guidelines for this purpose.

With regard to sites established in the European Union, the ministerial decree published today lists the first seventeen European sites that are now subject to Arcom's control powers.

As stipulated by law, any measures taken by Arcom against these services will be applicable three months after publication of the decree.

With regard to sites based in France or outside the European Union, which have been subject to Arcom's standards since January 2025, the Autorité has already carried out checks on six of the most popular services.

Arcom found that none of these services had implemented an age verification scheme, despite being required to do so. Moreover, one of them had not made its provider's identity or address available, in breach of the law.

In the case of the latter, the Authority decided to send several ISPs, domain name resolution schemes and search engines requests for blocking or delisting, with the aim of ensuring that access to the offending site was prevented.

For the other five services, Arcom has decided to send letters of observation, as provided for by law, as a first step towards possible blocking should the breach persist.

Blockings can be imposed for a maximum of two years, and their necessity is reassessed, ex officio or on demand, as soon as an effective age verification solution has been put in place.

Through these actions, Arcom reaffirms its commitment to improving the protection of person under 18s on the Internet, in general, and against online pornography, in particular. It is determined to pursue this approach at European Union level, within the framework of the Digital Services Regulation and more specifically the future European guidelines on the protection of person under 18 online.