If they had hoped to escape, it was a failure! From January 11, X sites will actually have to verify the age of their users, in order to prohibit their access to minors, under penalty of being blocked in France.
This is a big blow for porn sites! Following the law aimed at securing and regulating the digital space (SREN) passed in 2024, which itself arises from the Avia law of 2020, these services will be forced to control the age of their users by offering them several solutions published by external service providers, from sending a video selfie so that an AI estimates the visitor’s age to that of an identity document, from January 11. Yet another twist in a long-term battle to prevent minors from using this type of platform.
Indeed, most pornographic sites in France clearly indicate on their home page that they are pornographic and that access is prohibited for minors: “This website, reserved for an adult and informed public, complies with all French regulations in force. It contains X-rated texts, photos and videos which may offend the sensibilities of certain people.” But it stops there. It is therefore very easy for a child, whatever their age, to click on the “Enter” button by certifying on their honor “have become aware of the pornographic nature of this site and be of legal age according to the laws in force in [s]we state or [s]we country.”
In short, this is a purely formal warning which in no way prevents you from viewing pornographic content and, what is more, contravenes French legislation (see our article). This is very problematic given that, according to the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom), 2.3 million minors visit X sites each month. Hence the need for the Government to toughen the legislation .
Blocking X sites: a mandatory age verification system
To help X sites comply with this new legislation, Arcom published in October 2024 a technical reference document detailing “the minimum technical requirements, applicable to age verification systems implemented by online services, which make pornographic content available to the public”. This includes in particular a facial recognition system integrated into a device for estimating age by analyzing facial features – provided that it can verify that it is indeed a living being and not a photograph or recorded video – and a double anonymity solution.
Concretely, the Internet user will have to download an application – created by a private company – and upload a document proving their majority (identity document, driving license, banking contract, etc.). It is this same application which will confirm to the adult site that the Internet user is of legal age, without revealing their identity, which will authorize the connection. This way the site does not receive any further information about it. Here too, it will be necessary to use facial recognition, so that the trusted third party can ensure that the Internet user who uses the application is indeed the same one who appears on the identity documents – a teenager can very well Borrow another family member’s ID.
To allow pornographic sites to organize themselves, Arcom authorizes them to use until April 2025 a bank card form with “a zero euro transaction” to filter underage Internet users (see our article). This solution is only temporary because it opens the way to online scams – particularly with the creation of mirror sites – and it is quite easy to circumvent, since it is enough to a minor to borrow their parents’ card After this date, X sites are subject to sanctions if they do not comply with the requirements. The fine could be up to 6% of their turnover. business, and Arcom will be able to order their blocking on French territory.
Pornographic sites: which sites are affected by the blocking?
There is, however, a small catch: this law does not apply to all pornographic sites. Indeed, unlike the first version of the bill, the adopted text now only concerns platforms established in France – such as Jacquie and Michel – or outside the European Union. As a result, porn giants like Pornhub, Xvideos, Xhamster – the three most visited adult sites in France – and YouPorn are therefore in theory spared. This change is due to the European Commission, which has repeatedly reminded the Government that, under the e-commerce directive of 2000, providers of these online services are subject in the EU to the law of the Member State in which they are established, and not to other national rules.
However, the Paris Court of Appeal asked, last October, ISPs to technically prevent access to several pornographic sites that do not verify the age of Internet users, namely Pornhub, MrSexe, Iciporno, Xnxx, Xvideos , YouPorn, Redtube, Tukif and Xhamster. The court finally ordered the blocking of Tukif, Xhamster, Mrsexe and Iciporno within 15 days, “until the implementation by the latter of a control other than purely declarative is demonstrated” of the majority of its users. On the other hand, the other sites, which raised a question relating to European law, had been exempted, the French justice system awaiting a decision from the Court of Justice of the EU. The battle is far from over…
Pornographic sites: easy to bypass blocking
And this is not the only difficulty facing the authorities. Indeed, let’s not forget that nothing is ever really hidden on the web. Even if the sites are delisted and no longer appear in search engines (Google, Bing, Qwant and others), it only takes a little research to find them. However, teenagers lack neither imagination nor reflexes to achieve what they want.
Install a VPN, a server which allows the Internet user to virtually relocate from France, that is to say to make the ISP believe that he is in a foreign country with no regulations against X-rated sites , is one of these methods. Another method is to change the computer’s DNS. You just need to know a minimum of the computer parameter settings and, in three minutes flat, the operation is successful. With age verification, access to porn sites will be a little more complicated, of course, but not impossible.
In addition, the Internet is like the Lernaean hydra: you cut off one head, it grows two again. If minors can no longer access their favorite adult sites, there is no doubt that they will find others on the Web. And that’s without counting platforms like X (ex Twitter) which authorize videos for adults, including pedophiles and zoophiles… In short, there is still a long way to go!