The bill dedicated to securing and regulating the digital space, which will soon be examined by the Senate, does not entirely convince the High Council for Equality. The organization, created by decree in 2013 under the presidency of François Hollande, wants to focus on pornography, considering “need to participate in the debate now” by proposing recommendations concerning online violence against women in order to inspire amendments to the government and Parliament.
“No provision is devoted to those who are the greatest victims of the pornographic system: women and girls, who are humiliated, abused, tortured, undergoing treatment contrary to both human dignity and French law.says the press release from the HCE. The Paris prosecutor, during her hearing for the excellent 2022 Senate report on the matter, The Hell of decor, noted that 90% of the content of pornographic videos fell under the Penal Code, as including acts of physical or sexual violence.”
Among its recommendations, the HCE proposes that the skills of the Pharos platform be extended so that it can act on the content “presenting acts of torture and barbarity, inhuman and degrading treatment and rape”. Remember that Pharos can organize the blocking and delisting of terrorist and child pornography content. The High Council for Equality would also like Arcom to be “seizure in order to check the conformity of blocking refusals and order Pharos to withdraw, block or delist”.
No longer apply the presumption of majority
The High Council for Equality wishes to ensure an effective right of withdrawal of any content of a sexual nature by the person filmed or photographed, at any time and without justification, if this person so requires. “This manifestly illegal content must be able to be reported and removed within 48 hours by the platform, under penalty of heavy financial penalties”advocates the advisory body.
Finally, it would like any pornographic image representing a minor or a person whose physical appearance is that of a minor to be prohibited, regardless of the age of the person filmed. Concretely, it would mean no longer applying “a presumption of majority”. Videos tagged with keywords like “teen”, “daddy” or “schoolgirl” would be affected.
The bill already provides for a strengthening of the powers of Arcom. The authority could directly notify Internet access providers so that they block pornographic sites that do not effectively verify the age of Internet users, without going through the judge’s box. And to stop the dissemination of child pornography online, the government wants to strengthen the sanctions against hosts, with withdrawal requests in less than 24 hours under penalty of heavy penalties.