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00:00France's government's been seeking to protect minors from pornographic images for some time.
00:06And with new regulation coming in force that tells users who want to go to porn sites
00:11to show proof of identification, well, one of the biggest providers has pulled
00:17its websites from France. More on that story now from Luc Schrago.
00:23French internet users said goodbye to three mainstays of online pornography on Wednesday.
00:31YouPorn, RedTube and Pornhub have all pulled the plug on access in France,
00:36leaving only a picture of the famous bare-breasted liberty guiding the people
00:40in protest at a law beefing up requirements to verify users' ages.
00:44For French authorities, it's no great loss.
00:48I bid them farewell because no one's above the law.
00:51If they prefer to leave France rather than protect our children,
00:54then they have no business being here.
00:56According to a study by French communications regulator Arcom,
01:00over half of all 12-year-old boys access a porn site at least once a month.
01:05I must have been 12.
01:08It was the same for me, 12 or 13.
01:11Since March, users are meant to prove they're over 18 to access pornographic content
01:16by taking a selfie or scanning in an ID or bank card.
01:20But websites haven't acted and parents are concerned.
01:23I have two kids, 11 and 15, who unfortunately have already been exposed to these sites
01:29just by clicking on a button.
01:32With Arcom saying over 2 million minors access online porn every month,
01:36medical professionals are also worried.
01:38Some watch it on a daily basis,
01:43so it's very damaging to their psychosexual development.
01:47It encourages moving on to extreme sexual behavior
01:50with a lack of consent and a lack of respect for others.
01:55The company behind the website's Aloe says it's not a game-stage verification,
02:00but it wants a different solution,
02:01fearing a risk to users' data from hacks or leaks
02:04if left in the hands of individual platforms.
02:07And with us is Inès Lejeune,
02:10advocacy officer for the state-approved watchdog group
02:14e-enfance, e-childhood, I guess is how you would translate that.
02:18In English.
02:18Thanks for being with us here on France 24.
02:21Thank you so much for having me.
02:22Whose job is it to make sure that there are no people under 18
02:27accessing porn sites?
02:29It's a really difficult job because, like,
02:31we have to make the platform really ensure that the law is really respected.
02:37So it's really hard, and we can see with the news.
02:40Is it up to the porn sites to prove that their users are above the age of 18?
02:48Or is it for a third party?
02:49Their argument is, well, it's not up to us.
02:51It's up to the big platforms, the big internet providers.
02:56About the pornographic website, it's really clear.
02:59We ensure a law in 2020 to change the French penal code,
03:04and it puts the obligation for the French pornographic websites
03:08to make sure that minors cannot have access to the website.
03:14So they have to put a system of verification of age.
03:17So this is really on the platforms, yes.
03:22And a simple, are you over 18 and you click is no longer enough.
03:27Absolutely not.
03:28And so there is this idea of a third party, double blind option
03:36so that the platforms themselves don't have all the data of those that are going on.
03:42So how complicated is that to put in place?
03:45Actually, it's absolutely not complicated because like ARCOM,
03:48I don't know if you are familiar with ARCOM,
03:50is the authority of regulation of contents and online contents communication.
03:56They put technical guidelines who give a system of verification of age
04:02to all the platforms for the websites, for the pornographic websites.
04:06And we have like French and international pornographic websites.
04:11Who did it?
04:12Who put this solution?
04:14So it's absolutely not complicated.
04:16And it's really respectful for the privacy, for the data and for the users.
04:22So it's really not complicated.
04:24And besides, it's a legal obligation.
04:27So they have to do it.
04:28So yours is an organization that deals with cyberbullying.
04:31Yes, exactly.
04:33Why is this your cause?
04:34Because cyberbullying is not our only cause.
04:38Our cause, the main cause, is like to protect all the minors online.
04:42So it's not only cyberbullying.
04:44It's also about the social network.
04:46It's also about protecting minors in order that they cannot have access to harmful contents.
04:53So that's make the fact that the pornographic websites have to put system of verification of age our call.
05:00And that's why.
05:02And the law was put in place in 2020.
05:05Yes, the law, yes.
05:06It's been five years.
05:07Yes.
05:08It's been five years, like, for many reasons.
05:11And us, like, our association, with another association who's called La Voix de l'Enfant, we went in court, and we still are in court, in order to make this legislation really ensure with the pornographic websites.
05:28It's been a long time, especially because, like, we wanted to put a really real technical guideline that was, like…
05:38That works.
05:39Yeah, that works, and that would be really, like, protectful for the users, for the data and stuff like this.
05:46That's why that took so long to put this in place.
05:49But the law has to be enforced and has to be respected.
05:52All right.
05:53Perhaps a good first step.
05:55Inès Lejean, many thanks for being with us here on France.
05:57Thank you so much.
05:58Stay with us.
05:59There's much more to come, more news, plus today's business.
06:02And in sports, the victory of a wild-card French woman, Thrills Roland Garros, coming up.
06:10We'll see you next time.