France demands from this Saturday proof of legal age for those who access pornographic websitesamong them a selfie made with a video camera analyzed by AI or the sending of an identity document.
The purpose of this measure is stop exposure to pornography to minors. According to a study by the French telecommunications regulator (Arcom), more than two million adolescents were exposed to ‘X’ content in 2023 for at least 50 minutes each month, which represents an increase of 600,000 minors compared to 2017.
The decree published last December 18, whose entry into force was scheduled for this Saturday, January 11, establishes that, as was done until now, fill out a simple declaration on the age of Internet users who go to adult pages will not be enough.
Users will have to prove that they are over 18 years old before the external service provider in charge of carrying out this procedure to be able to enter the website. Among the options implemented, there is a selfie on video that will be analyzed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to confirm the age of majority or the sending of an identity document.
The French authorities assured that the anonymity of the person will be preserved – a legal requirement for respect for the right to privacy and intimacy – since the external service provider does not know for what type of website that age verification is being done. The porn website receives the person’s age certificate, but without knowing their identity.
The decree applies to adult websites hosted in France and outside the community space. For those within the EU, there are some months of lack so that they adapt to the regulations. Sites operating in France that do not respect it may be closed.
The pornographic pages have protested this measure by the French Government and have called it “ineffective” and “dangerous” for the privacy of users.
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