French rules: pornography websites must now check visitor’s age - but how?
So far only sites operating outside of the EU are concerned
The rules currently apply to sites hosted outside of the EU
Stenko Vlad/Shutterstock
Visitors to online pornographic websites in France must now confirm their age to enter the website, under new rules brought in to protect minors from accessing adult content.
Users of many but not all such websites - it currently depends on the site’s location – will need to prove they are at least 18 years old by sending in a photo of themselves or a piece of identity showing their age.
A method of ‘double anonymity’ will be used, with various different softwares allowing pornographic sites to prove a person’s age via images they send in without disclosing their identity.
Websites that currently prove a person’s identification via their bank card have until April 11 to enact the new rules.
Other sites should have in theory enacted the rules on January 11.
However, so far the rules only apply to sites based outside of the European Union.
Aylo, a major pornographic conglomerate that manages the websites ‘Pornhub’ and ‘Brazzers’ is based in Cyprus, meaning they are not subject to the law.
Sites that do not comply may be blocked in France.
The move has been praised by children’s rights groups, with French media watchdog Arcom claiming over two million underage children in France regularly watch pornographic content online.
However, it has been met with criticism from some site owners, who claim the measures are expensive and will not protect underage people from viewing explicit material elsewhere.
How does it work?
Users will be prompted to upload a photo of themselves or a piece of ID when accessing these sites
The websites will be able to take this information to prove a person’s age, although they will not be able to see any details about the user (including their name, etc).
Third-party software can be used to achieve this, with dozens of start-ups in France creating software that provides the ‘double anonymity’ required.
Several website managers complain that the cost of implementing this software is on them.
“The law is quite good, but the problem is the method used,” said one site manager quoted in Le Figaro, who remained anonymous.
He said it costs between 1 and 2 cents per visitor to verify their age using the new systems.
“Since November, less than 5% of users who arrive on the verification system leave verified… It's killed traffic to our site,” he said.
Aylo said it was “aware of the new rule and will always respect the law,” however believes the measures to be ‘ineffective’ and ‘dangerous’ for the privacy of users subject to these rules.
Easy getarounds
The aim of the law is to reduce the number of minors accessing adult pornographic content, but there are seemingly easy ways to bypass this.
Primarily, a vast amount of adult content can be accessed through traditional social media sites, including X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit, which are not subject to the new rules and thus do not require users to validate their age through ID to view such material.
Secondly, the websites that are subject to the new rules can still be accessed without verification through the use of a VPN (virtual private network).
Read more: Is it legal to use a VPN to watch TV in France?
This software, available for free or for a few euros per month, allows users to bypass certain restrictions when viewing blocked content, including those based on location.
A user who has a VPN installed on their device can ‘choose’ the country they are visiting from – for example, a person in France can say they are accessing the site from the United States.
This is sometimes used to access different catalogues of films and TV shows on streaming sites such as Netflix, but could now be used to bypass restrictions on pornographic sites.
This is because only devices that websites recognise as being in France are subject to the rules.
Read more: French court orders creators of Canadian pirate website to pay €489m
