You’ll need government approval to access porn in France from September

Updated June 1, 2024

Published February 10, 2023

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France is set to become the first country in the world to introduce compulsory government-approved age verification to allow people in the country to access porn websites; a ‘porn passport’ of sorts.

From September, if the new mechanism’s implementation plan goes smoothly, to watch online porn in France you’ll have to install a government-licensed digital certification app to verify that you’re over the age of 18. Porn sites that don’t comply with implementing this system face being banned from the French internet.

According to French law you already have to be at least 18 years old to watch porn in the country, but robust age verification methods are not strongly implemented across websites, if they exist at all. For example, on some porn sites you can simply enter a false date of birth to confirm that you are over 18.

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Not only will France soon require a 'porn passport' — a govt-created monitoring app installed directly on your phone — the telecom will also have send you an access code.

It's like France looked at all the privacy risks and combined them into one.

https://t.co/5KzTP91Ykw
— Mike Stabile (@mikestabile) February 7, 2023

The new digital verification system was put forward by France’s digital minister, Jean-Noel Barrot. He told Le Parisien that it was happening to protect minors from accessing porn.

“I intend to put an end to this scandal… in 2023, it is the end of access to pornography websites for our children,” he said.

The move is the latest point on a recent timeline that has seen various European countries crack down on age verification processes for online porn access. In 2022, a court in Paris pushed ahead with ban processes for various porn sites that had been deemed to have not done enough to keep minors from accessing their sites.

No France has gone further, they need recognisable proof of age – such as a driving licence or passport – similar to if one was buying cigarettes or alcohol. They also aren't leaving it up to Pornhub or other porn websites to decide how age verification is decided.
— Dr EM (@PankhurstEM) February 7, 2023

Also in 2022 porn site xHamster was blocked in Germany for not having age verification processes required under German law.

In the UK, MPs are pushing to have social media bosses face jail sentences if they are found to be verifying the ages of users with regard to sexually explicit content.

In November last year French President Emmanuel Macron launched the Children Online Protection Laboratory, an organization that researches methods of protecting children from harmful online content.

Article by

Jamie F

Jamie F is a freelance writer, contributing to outlets such as The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, CNN and Vice, among others. He is also the creative force behind the Audible podcast Beast Master.

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