France has warned five major pornography websites that they will be blocked this week if they do not take immediate action to remedy their lax age verification standards.
The porn sites threatened with the block are Pornhub, xHamster, XVideos, XNXX, and Tukif, The Daily Beast reported Tuesday.
“French authorities have vowed to block five major porn sites this week unless measures are taken immediately to ensure users are over the age of 18,” the report outlined. “France’s Higher Audiovisual Council gave Pornhub, xHamster, XVideos, XNXX, and Tukif a Tuesday deadline for the new restrictions, after which it said it would seek a court order blocking access to the sites, The Times reports.”
As noted by The Daily Beast, these porn sites merely ask users to “mark a box” to confirm that they are adults. “The council said the porn sites are effectively violating the law if they do not create more rigorous checks, such as verification of identity documents proving a user’s age,” the report said.
The council underscored, “Children faced by such content can suffer lasting shock at the very least.”
In an emailed statement sent to The Daily Wire, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) applauded France for their effort in trying to “protect minors.”
“France is seeking to hold online pornography sites accountable in order to protect minors from accessing hardcore pornographic content that is harmful to them,” said NCOSE CEO Dawn Hawkins. “Despite empty assurances, online pornography sites have failed to keep children away from their content because they have no meaningful age verification systems, and in fact many of these sites employ marketing tactics that bring children to their sites. It is past time for pornography sites to be held to account.”
Hawkins noted that young musician Billie Eilish recently spoke out about the harms of pornographic consumption, revealing that she started consuming porn at age 11.
“A growing body of research supports her statements,” Hawkins said. “Early exposure to pornography affects children’s developing brains and normalizes the sexual violence, exploitation and abuse it so frequently depicts. Today’s hyper-online world exposes youth to such content at younger and younger ages through platforms that may seem safe on the surface—including social media. It’s virtually impossible to avoid; one study found that 93 percent of boys and 62 percent of girls are exposed to pornography in adolescence.”
“Modern online pornography is filled with extreme sexual violence, child sexual abuse, racism, and other disturbing and abusive content,” the CEO emphasized. “Online pornography platforms are designed to hook even casual viewers to seek even more violent and extreme content. We hear from families regularly that their children as young as 6 years old are accessing hardcore pornography despite their best efforts to protect them. The responsibility cannot lie with parents alone.”
Hawkins added a call for more nations to follow France’s example: “Other nations must follow France’s example if they care about curing the growing public health harms their youth face because of exposure to pornography.”