As you may know, ARCOM, France’s new web policeman, has had its sights set on major porn sites for several months now. The institution accuses Pornhub, Xvideos, Tukif or even Xhamster and YouPorn of not providing an effective age verification system to prevent minors from accessing their content.
ARCOM has therefore called for the sites concerned to be blocked, if no solution is put in place. Justice was seized by ARCOM in March 2022, and a first hearing was expected on May 24, 2022. Only and due to a procedural defect committed by the French institution, this hearing was postponed to September 6, 2022 .
Mediation to solve the problem of access to minors
To the chagrin of ARCOM, the Paris court decided opt for mediation, hoping to settle the dispute amicably. A decision far removed from the wishes of ARCOM, which had required the pure and simple blocking of these X sites.
“The court considers that the present case includes criteria for eligibility for mediation”, declared Fabrice Vert, first vice-president of the Paris court, and fervent defender of this method of dispute resolution. Economist Bruno Deffains was chosen as mediator. “The position of the regulator is not to lead workshops to help porn sites to carry out their activity”, denounce the lawyers of ARCOM.
The filing of a QPC postpones the deadline again
In the process, the Cypriot company MG Freesites, parent company of Pornhub, filed a priority question of constitutionality (QPC). The QPC “is the recognized right of any person, party to a trial, to maintain that a legislative provision (editor’s note: here, the attempt to block ARCOM) is contrary to the rights and freedoms that the Constitution guarantees”. What to give an additional respite to the five sites concerned, since it will be necessary to wait until October 4, 2022 to find out whether or not the Paris court forwards this QPC to the Court of Cassation.
If the QPC is forwarded to the Supreme Court, ARCOM’s action will be suspended. Otherwise, the Paris court will have to choose a new hearing date to decide whether or not to block the X sites concerned.
Source: BFM-TV