Arcom, the audiovisual policeman, asked the Paris court to block access to five adult sites. Rather, it offers mediation.
Will the biggest porn sites soon be inaccessible in France? The court is studying the case. The lawyers for the sites Pornhub, Pornhub, XHamster, Xnxx and Xvidéos are present, this Tuesday, September 6, at the Paris court. They must defend themselves against Arcom, the audiovisual regulatory authority, which is asking for their suspension. Justice did not respond positively to their request and is offering mediation to settle the dispute. The decision to order the parties to negotiate will be formally taken on Thursday, but the choice of economist Bruno Deffains as mediator has already been put forward.
The platforms are accused of not having followed French law on the protection of minors. Since the vote on the law against domestic violence in 2020, publishers of pornographic sites have been called upon to better control who consumes their videos. The simple message “are you over 18 ?is no longer considered sufficient. With this system, according to Médiamétrie data revealed by Le Figarotwo million minors are exposed to this content every month.
Read alsoTwo million minors exposed to pornography: why the State is struggling so much to protect children
Pornographic sites must therefore set up age verification systems, technologies whose contours are still very vague. Once these tools are in place, Arcom is tasked with validating their effectiveness.
No decision expected
After giving adult sites time to comply, Arcom issued formal notice to the sites at the start of 2022. A first hearing was to be held on May 24, but, to everyone’s surprise, this it was returned to the start of the school year. The fault of aprocedural erroraccording to the regulator’s lawyer, Maître Nicolas Jouanin.
He also indicates that the court decision should not fall on September 6. “This is not a deliberation hearing, but a plea hearing.“, he confides to the Figaro. The decision to disconnect – or not – the sites should not be known before the end of the year.
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