Pornography: alert to massive and early consumption by minors

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: ROMAIN LONGIERAS / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 16:04 p.m., May 25, 2023

Nearly a third of under-18s using the internet visit at least one porn site each month, mainly on their smartphone, according to a study published Thursday. "Frightening" data that show the urgency of acting to better protect minors, several associations stress. Some 2.3 million minors watch an average of more than 50 minutes of pornographic content each month. Three-quarters use their phone exclusively, so out of parental gaze, according to this Mediamétrie study conducted in 2022 among 25,000 panelists, and commissioned by the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom).

51% of boys aged 12-13 concerned

The phenomenon is getting worse, and "these minors are even younger than we thought," warns AFP Laurence Pécaut-Rivolier, Arcom. 21% of 10-11 year old boys watch porn sites every month, and 51% of 12-13 year old boys (but 31% of girls of the same age). These "frightening figures" show "the urgency to act", responded in a statement the High Council for Equality between Women and Men, because porn content is "the bed of a society that trivializes violence against women and participates in the increase in sexist and sexual violence".

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"What are we waiting for to tackle this public health problem?" asked the association Osez le féminisme! "We demand that the government finally enforce the law," she added. On 10 May, the government presented a bill aimed at "securing and regulating" the Internet. This text gives Arcom the power to block and delist porn sites that do not comply with the law.

A verification system called "double anonymity"

Because if sites are in principle required to reserve their access only to adults, in fact, most are content to ask Internet users to click on a box to certify that they are over 18 years old. Seized by associations, Arcom has put 15 sites on notice to establish a real age control, and has taken legal action to obtain the blocking of seven of them, including Pornhub. The Paris judicial court is due to rule on this case on July 7. At a hearing in April, the site managers refused to set up an age check because they consider the law insufficiently clear on the expected technical modalities.

One of the solutions would be to create a verification system called "double anonymity", by which the user would give his identity to a "trusted third party", explains to AFP Thomas Rohmer, founder of the Observatory of parenting and digital education (Open). This device would then unblock access to the content without transmitting personal data to pornographic sites. "This can be complex to implement, but in the meantime, let's be pragmatic: we can require sites to ask for the user's credit card," suggests Thomas Rohmer.

Parental responsibility

This issue, he observed, is also the responsibility of parents, who must take a close interest in what their children do on the internet, and help teenagers to "deconstruct the images" viewed. As for younger children, who "come out of primary school", they "do not have the maturity to see these images, designed for adults," says psychologist Samuel Comblez, of the e-Enfance association that manages the 3018 helpline on violence and digital uses.

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"Some sites show scatophilic, zoophilic images, promote incest, aggressive images towards women. And all this is now accessible in three clicks, "laments this specialist. On line 3018, "we have young people who call us to tell us that they have been disturbed", and who "keep quiet", because it is "difficult for them to tell their parents that they have gone to see pornographic sites".