Pornhub, Pornhub and XHamster face imminent closure

For lack of having found a secure regulation system to filter out underage users, several pornographic sites risk being closed. For several months now, ARCOM, resulting from the merger between the CSA and HADOPI, has ordered several players in the adult industry to comply with article 227-24 of the Penal Code, which aims to regulate access from the youngest to online pornography. It is clear that the exercise is not as simple as expected.

In concrete terms, it was above all a question of finding a filtering system that was more reliable than displaying a simple pop-up window asking the Internet user if he is over 18 years old. A shield that is too insecure, says ARCOM. It is in this context that the regulator was tasked at the start of the year with helping the sites concerned to comply, by disabling disclaimers in order to opt for a more secure method. Seized by several associations, the president of the CSA had thus activated a first injunction procedure in December 2021.

The imminent death of free X?

In ARCOM’s sights, there are five very influential platforms in the free streaming industry, namely Pornhub, Xnxx, Xvideos, Cliphunter and xHamster. For several months, all have been in the hot seat, and risk closure in France. According to information from Marc Rees on Twitter, justice has just been seized this week to formalize this blockage. After five formal notices remained unanswered, the sanction will therefore fall. Within a few days, the French regulator should confirm its decision, and thus make the platforms in question inaccessible.

The impossible verification?

Among the sites blacklisted by ARCOM, Tukif was quick to govern, listing nearly 2000 competing sites which also limited their filtering to a simple checkbox. In particular, the site estimated: “It appears discriminatory and disproportionate to see the CSA target only five sites, including Tukif, while sites with substantially higher traffic such as “YouPorn” have not been subject to any action by the CSA at this stage. ”.

The countdown has therefore begun for the targeted sites, which have been criticizing the CSA for several months for not having done enough to help them find a viable and secure solution. For its part, the digital policeman will have to have solid shoulders: in addition to assuming the blocking of five of the biggest online pornography platforms, ARCOM will also have to be able to redirect all relevant traffic to an informational pagewithout the latter being overloaded.