Nine pornographic sites, including Pornhub, Xhamster, Xvideos or Tukif, have just escaped a request for blocking in France. The platforms were accused of being negligent when checking the age of Internet users. However, they will have to meet the requirements of the CSA, whose powers in this area have just been revised upwards.
At the beginning of September 2021, two associations for the protection of children, e-Childhood and The voice of the child, have filed a complaint against the main Internet service providers in France. The lawsuit, filed in the Paris court, argued that ISPs neglect to ensure that adult sites meticulously verify the age of their visitors.
A law passed last April considers that displaying a message asking the Internet user to confirm his majority with a single click is no longer sufficient. According to the two defense associations, many popular sites, such as YouPorn, PornHub, xvideos, Tutor, violate this legislation. It therefore demanded the blocking of all sites guilty of negligence.
A short respite for all 9 porn sites
This Friday, October 8, 2021, the request to block porn sites was rejected by the Paris court, reports Le Monde. A total of 9 pornographic sites escaped blocking : Pornhub, Mrsexe, Iciporno, Tukif, Xnxx, Xhamster, Xvideos, Youporn and Redtube. In the decision unveiled this Friday, the court ruled in favor of Internet service providers in France.
According to the court, the action of associations should rather target publishers or hosts of pornographic sites concerned rather than Orange, SFR, Free or Bouygues. Unfortunately, the legal notices of the platforms do not generally allow them to find their identity. With their backs to the wall, the associations turned against the ISPs. Without success.
The nine law-breaking pornographic sites are not, however, out of the woods. At the same time, the government published a new decree to give the CSA (Superior Audiovisual Council) the power to take action against porn sites that do not correctly verify the age of users. With these new attributions, the CSA will be able to order the blocking of a porn site which contravenes the law. Eight sites have already received a formal notice from the CSA.