Every week, college and high school students wonder, in the Vrai du Faux Junior, about publications or statements that they see passing and seek to verify them. The starting point for students’ reflection this week comes from articles and messages implying that porn sites are going to have to shut down.
Five porn sites called to order
“Is it true that the five major porn sites are going to be shut down by the CSA?” thus asks Raphael. “Is it true that from a judicial point of view the CSA can close these sites”, add Yoni.
To check, Raphaël suggests crossing the information found on social networks and in the articles he has read.
The True and False Unit invites him to come across articles from reliable media above all. Another audit trail is to contact the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel, mentioned by Raphaël and which recently became Arcom, the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication.
In addition to the information that can be found on the Regulatory Authority’s website, Arcom informs students that as they stand, these statements are false. “The law of July 30, 2020 which aims to combat violence conjugal, we are told, provides that Arcom ensures that pornographic sites have set up a system for blocking their content, to make it inaccessible to minors” Three associations, which accused certain sites of breaking the law, seized Arcom to intervene. After bailiff’s findings, it sent a warning (a “formal notice”) to these five sites to ask them to comply with the law.
They had 15 days to do so. Arcom will now ask a bailiff to verify that a solution has been implemented by these sites. If this is not the case, Arcom has the option of taking legal action (the Paris court). Nevertheless she does not have the authority to shut down these sites. If no effective blocking solution is put in place, it is the courts that can decide to block and/or remove the sites in question from the search engines accessible in France. It is not in itself a question of closing the sites which may continue to exist, but of preventing the public living in France from accessing them.
Site security complex to implement
“Why are these sites so insecure? Melissa asks. “How age verification systems can see if people are the recommended age“, adds Leandra.
” Pornographic sites are obliged to receive only adults. It is therefore up to them to find a way to ask adults to prove that they are “, explains to the students Justine Atlan, general manager of the association E-Enfance, mobilized among other things on issues of prevention of dangers on the Internet. The problem indeed at present, is that it suffices to declare that one is over 18 years old to access this type of site. The idea would therefore be to provide proof of his majority and “sif the major does not manage to prove it by a means that will be given to him”, adds Justine Atlan, “we will consider by default, that he is not an adult therefore that he is a minor and in which case, we block access to him.”
For this, she says, “it there are a lot of things that exist: “It can be: sending a copy of ID, facial recognition devices. Justine Atlan recognizes that “these systems are more or less perfectible and that none is ideal and none is perfect.” According to her, these sites are not asked to necessarily have the perfect solution, “IThey have no obligation of result”, she says, “on the other hand, they must prove their willingness to apply the law.”
The impact of pornographic videos on minors
Students also wonder what the real risks are for teenagers to go on pornographic sites.
“Is porn harmful to mental health? Does exposure to underage pornography influence oversexualization in some girls or in some boys? Will it influence the behavior of boys towards girls? “Ask two students named Camille.
Pornography is made for adults and is in no way sex education, replies Justine Atlan. However, it is estimated that on average, at age 12, nearly one child in three has already been exposed to pornography and 62% of young people saw their first pornographic images before entering high school, ie before age 15.
At an age when they have a lot of questions and concerns about sex, “as no one tells them anything”, adds Justine Atlan, “Since they have no information, the only thing they find and that is offered to them is often pornographic content.”
For the general manager of the E-Enfance association, pornography highlights “very specific stagings, with lots of totally false things, which are made up, transformed, with special effects, with sometimes a lack of consent from the actors or especially the actresses”.
For Justine Atlan, all this is dangerous for teenagers who will tend to take it for a manual “pbecause it will encourage both boys and girls” she adds, “to behave in sexual relations that are supposed to be done out of envy, out of personal desire, out of consent, out of a desire to exchange, by repeating things they have seen and which are anything but reality.”
Let us add that the National Assembly gave, on January 18, a unanimous green light at first reading to a text facilitating the use of parental control on connected objects, with, among other things, the objective of protecting minors from pornography. There is also a website, intended for parents and more generally adults, devoted to the protection of minors against online pornography.