“This site is inaccessible”. Since Friday afternoon, this message has been gradually imposed on French Internet users trying to access the pornographic video platforms Tukif, Xhamster, Mr Sexe and Iciporno. Telecoms operators are in the process of blocking access to these sites, having been notified today by the courts, as reported by Politico.

This enforceable ruling was sent out just over a month after an unprecedented decision by the Paris Court of Appeal. After an interminable legal soap opera which has not yet said its last words, the judge had ordered this sanction against these four sites in the name of a law passed in 2020. The latter requires pornographic sites to verify the age of their visitors in order to bar minors. According to a recent study by Arcom40% of 12-17 year-olds visit X-rated sites every month. These four sites will be reauthorized in France if they comply with the law.

The latter has long stumbled over the nature of the devices that pornographic sites must put in place to effectively and robustly verify the age of their visitors, while at the same time protecting their privacy. In the end, on October 11, 2024, Arcom published a “technical reference document” with which all such sites must comply within three months, or risk being outlawed. Sending an identity document, video selfie… these sites will have to offer their French visitors several solutions, which will have to be operated by a third-party company.

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In the meantime, pornographic sites are invited to set up a bank card verification system, with a 0 euro transaction followed by validation by SMS or via the Internet user’s banking application (strong authentication). This temporary solution is imperfect, but will prevent accidental connections by children.

Tukif, Xhamster, Mr Sexe and Iciporno do not have a large audience in France. On the other hand, the legal battle continues with industry leaders Pornhub, Xvideos and Youporn, based in Cyprus and the Czech Republic. Their lawyers have argued that the legislation of the European country in which they are hosted should take precedence over French law. In other words, age verification did not apply to them. The Court of Appeal referred the matter to the European Court of Justice.

” Major sites are escaping the blocking that should be imposed. They are multiplying their efforts to drag out the procedures. “Frédéric Benoist, lawyer for the associations La Voix de l’enfant and e-Enfance, deplored the situation, seeing it as the effect of the “ powerful lobby of the pornographic industry “.