French court blocks porn sites over age verification for child protection



The Paris Court of Appeal ordered some pornography websites to be blocked on Thursday over failure to implement robust age verification systems that are capable of preventing minors from accessing the adult content, Politico reports.

Porn sites Tukif and Xhamster were among several adult websites subject to the order. The sites have been given 15 days to implement effective age verification or face the block being extended until they do.

Child safety concerns lie behind other recent high-profile interventions on tech platforms — such as the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France in August under a new cybercrime law. He was subsequently charged in a wide-ranging criminal case sparked by a child sexual abuse material probe.

The European Union also recently designated four adult websites under the strictest layer of the bloc’s online governance framework to push them to use stronger age verification as a child safety measure.




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