Protection of person under 18s online: Arcom intervenes with five pornographic sites established in the EU and publishes its contribution to the European Commission's draft guidelines

In application of the French law of May 21, 2024 aimed at securing and regulating the digital space (SREN law), Arcom has carried out checks on several pornographic sites established in the European Union, among the most popular in France [1].

It found that five services, based in Cyprus or the Czech Republic and directly accessible in France, had not set up an age verification scheme, in breach of their obligations.

As required by law, Arcom decided on June 11 to send the providers of these services a letter of observation, the first step before possible blocking and delisting, should the breach persist. At the same time, the Autorité will notify the national authorities concerned of its intention to take action, in line with France's European commitments.

At this stage, it has not intervened with the services provided by the Aylo group [2], which has decided to revoke from the French market in order to avoid its obligations, thus no longer directly offering pornographic content in France.

On June 11, Arcom also adopted its contribution to the public consultation on the European Commission's draft guidelines for the protection of persons under 18 online. Arcom welcomes the ambitious nature of these guidelines on a number of crucial points (age verification, default settings, etc.), an ambition which it proposes should be clarified, in particular with regard to their application to very large search engines, and more generally on the subject of notice schemes and age verification methods.

Arcom summons the Commission to implement the guidelines rapidly and tangibly, as soon as they are adopted, in order to meet the growing expectations of European citizens. It calls on the Commission to present an action plan to this effect to theDSA Board, and reaffirms its commitment to contribute to this in coordination with the Commission and national regulators.

Furthermore, in response to a number of recent communication campaigns, the Authority wishes to point out that measures concerning terminals or their operating schemes can certainly complement the online protection of persons under 18, but that verifying the age of service users is a responsibility clearly assigned by the RSN (DSA) to the platforms themselves, who cannot pass it on to other players.

Arcom's contribution to the public consultation on guidelines for the protection of persons under 18.

[1] Sites designated by a ministerial decree dated February 26, 2025, which came into force on June 7.

[2] Provider of Pornhub, YouPorn and RedTube services