This week, France is going to announce new measures to prevent minors from accessing porn sites as part of the last stage of a long-term struggle to protect children from sexually explicit materials.
“I plan to put an end to this scandal,” Digital Affairs Minister Jean—Noel Barraud told Parisien newspaper on Monday.
The French data protection and media authorities Cnil and Arcom intend to announce their latest proposals to restrict access to porn sites, which theoretically fall under the 2020 law requiring age verification.
Previous attempts have been suspended due to privacy issues and technical difficulties, as well as lawsuits from the respective websites.
To the disappointment of Jean-Noel Barraud, in September last year, a Paris court ordered Arcom to start negotiations with several porn sites, including the market leader Pornhub, suspending attempts to block them.
According to Parisien, according to the new proposal, people who want to access explicit materials will have to download a phone application that will provide them with a digital certificate and a code.
“The code will be needed to access the porn site as part of a system “that will work on the principle of a bank code when you buy something online,” Barro told the newspaper.
“2023 will mark the end of our children’s access to pornographic sites,” he added.
President Emmanuel Macron, who is married to his former schoolteacher Brigitte Macron, promised to make protecting children from pornography a priority during his election campaign last year.
In November, he launched the Internet Child Protection Laboratory, an initiative aimed at bringing together industry giants and researchers to find ways to protect minors on the Internet.
In September last year, a report by French senators entitled “Hell behind the Scenes” concluded that “massive” porn viewing by children.
The report found that two-thirds of children aged 15 and younger have seen pornographic content at least once.
The French film industry has been rocked in recent years by a series of sexual violence cases in which women have reported violence, abuse and manipulation by directors and fellow actors.
