X, Elon Musk's microblogging platform, "has indicated since 2024 that it accepts the distribution of pornographic content. It must therefore be treated as such." According to the statement by the Ministry of AI and Digital Affairs made to Politico, this Tuesday, June 10, the social network (formerly Twitter) could indeed be considered a pornographic site, with one important consequence.
By falling into this category, the platform will have to implement much stricter age verification systems for its users - simply declaring that they are of legal age will no longer be enough. Since June 2024, Elon Musk's social network has officially authorized the distribution of pornographic content on its platform. According to the company's management, users must "be able to create, distribute, and view sexual content as long as it is produced and distributed consensually," it states on its site.
By authorizing and distributing such content, X would therefore have to verify the age of its users. The office of Clara Chappaz, the Minister of State for AI and Digital Affairs, added, again with our colleagues at Politico, that her team would "examine the designation of X in the decree relating to pornographic sites that must verify the age of their users." This statement confirms a previous statement by Clara Chappaz, made on the set of Quotidien last Thursday.
Fine, blocking or delisting for the recalcitrant
The minister was questioned on the standoff between three pornographic sites, PornHub, Youporn and Redtube, domiciled within the EU. These platforms had until June 7 to implement a stricter age verification system for Internet users, for the purpose of protecting minors: the three sites refused to comply with the new rule, defined in the SREN law (aimed at securing and regulating the digital space) and the technical reference published by Arcom in October 2024).
Pornographic platforms are now forced to go further in this verification, by implementing "minimum technical requirements applicable to age verification systems" such as sending a selfie or an identity document. They are required to offer a definitive solution other than verification by credit card, with at least one "double anonymity" age verification device. Recalcitrant pornographic sites risk a fine of up to 4% of their global turnover, the blocking of their sites by Internet access or service providers, as well as delisting.
This is not the first time that X has been in the crosshairs of European and French authorities.
Brussels opened proceedings against Elon Musk's social network in 2023: it suspects the platform of not respecting its obligations to combat disinformation and hateful content, in violation of the DSA, the European Digital Services Act. And according to the New York Times: the outcome of this procedure would be close, with, as a result, a fine that could reach a billion dollars. For its part, Ireland is investigating the handling of data from European users of X to train Grok, the xAI bot, while France is closely examining the X algorithm, suspected of being biased. Contacted, the platform had not responded to our request for comment at the time of publication of this article.
0 Comments