PARIS—The European Commission is scrutinizing a French national age verification law out of concern that it conflicts with the E.U.’s Digital Services Act (DSA), legal news service MLex.com reports.
MLex.com reporters Sara Brandstätter and Julia Tar indicate they have seen a letter sent to the French digital regulator ARCOM addressing whether the country’s national SREN law, which requires age verification and assurance for pornography websites within their digital space, is harmonized with similar provisions in the Digital Services Act.
A major element of the DSA requires European Union member states to provide age assurance for material potentially harmful to minors in a manner that doesn’t conflict with other national verification schemes. If the E.U. finds that France’s SREN law conflicts with the Digital Services Act, then this could be further litigated.
E.U. member states, including France, must “show restraint” while also avoiding “parallel national regimes,” notes the letter obtained by MLex.
Also, note that the European Commission announced investigations into websites including Pornhub.com and Stripchat.com for not having effective DSA compliance.
France was recently geo-blocked by Aylo-owned properties, including Pornhub.com. Aylo, the Montreal-based holdings company that has been scrutinized by the U.S. and European authorities for several years now about its positions on age verification, confirmed to AVN on Tuesday that it is blocking all of France.
“We’ve made the difficult decision to suspend access to our sites (user-uploaded content platforms, including Pornhub, YouPorn, Redtube) in France and instead use our platforms to speak directly to the French people,” said Alex Kekesi, Aylo’s vice president of brand and community, in a press release published Wednesday.
“French citizens deserve a government and a regulator who are serious about preventing children from accessing adult content,” Kekesi added. “They also deserve laws which protect their privacy and safeguard their sensitive data.”
