“We have decided to take legal action because the “formal notices” sent to these sites have not been followed up, announced the president of Arcom, Roch-Olivier Maistre, on the sidelines of a conference. of press on the representation of women on television and radio.

Arcom has “seized the president of the Paris court to order the main internet service providers to prevent access” to these sites, the body developed in a press release.

In this summary procedure (emergency), a hearing date has been set for May 24, AFP learned from a judicial source.

"If justice so decides, the publishers' sites will no longer be accessible from French territory or via their addresses located on the territory", specifies the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication, born in January from the merger CSA and Hadopi.

Internet users “will then be automatically redirected to an information page explaining” this blocking, it is added.

If necessary, Arcom may also take legal action if "the blocked sites are made accessible from other addresses (+ mirror sites +)" and "remain accessible to minors".

He may also "ask the judge to order" their delisting "by search engines and directories".

Seized in 2020 by three associations - the Observatory of Parenthood and Digital Education (Open), the National Union of Family Associations (Unaf) and the French Council of Associations for the Rights of the Child (Cofrade) - the CSA had given notice at the end of 2021 to the publishers of Pornhub, Tukif, Xhamster, Xnxx and Xvideos "to comply with the legal obligation" to block minors' access to their content, within fifteen days.

The penal code prohibits exposing minors to pornographic photos and videos and the law on domestic violence of July 30, 2020 specifies that the companies concerned cannot exonerate themselves from their responsibilities by simply asking an Internet user if he is major.

Pornhub and Xhamster, based in Cyprus, are owned by porn giant MindGeek, which also owns YouPorn, which is legally domiciled in Luxembourg.

Xvideos and Xnxx are installed in the Czech Republic and Tukif in Portugal.

At the end of December, Porndig had counter-attacked by seizing the CSA, considering it unfair that other sites, like YouPorn, were not targeted.

© 2022 AFP