(LifeSiteNews) — Better late than never: as the catastrophic harms of our society-wide experiment in ubiquitous digital porn becomes clear, governments are finally, slowly, taking action. It isn’t enough. Not by a long shot. But it is something, and maybe – just maybe – the herd is beginning to move.
As I noted back in February, the U.K. government is addressing the issue of pornography in its Online Safety Bill, which will require all porn sites to include some type of age verification system to keep children away from these platforms.
In the U.S., Louisiana has followed suit with an age verification bill, with Arkansas, Utah, Minnesota, Tennessee, and California(!) also examining different types of “content moderation” bills. Based on the pushback of the porn industry to Louisiana’s legislation, these laws hit the industry where it counts.
In a real win-win scenario, Pornhub is so angry at Utah for passing age verification that it has banned access to the site in the entire state.
France has also been pushing for age verification, and now the French government is attempting to crack down on websites refusing to comply by granting new power to its media regulator to block noncompliant porn websites entirely.
In an upcoming tech bill, Politico reported, “regulator for audiovisual and digital communication, Arcom, would no longer need judicial approval to force telecoms operators and search engines to block access to Pornhub or YouPorn in the country.”
This comes after a nearly three-year standoff between Paris and the porn industry over how to implement age verification, which France first implemented in 2020. Under French rules, adult websites can be shut down if they fail to block access to minors, but the porn industry has balked, ludicrously arguing in French courts that “the text cannot be implemented and puts privacy at risk.” From Politico:
The porn websites’ lack of compliance has increasingly annoyed Paris’ policymakers. Digital Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and Junior Minister for Children Charlotte Caubel repeatedly said the government would do everything in its power to ensure minors can’t have access to adult content. ‘Protecting children online is an absolute priority,’ Barrot tweeted after Arcom took yet another porn firm to court for non-compliance earlier this month.
Under the current legislation, the regulator needs to refer cases of websites that don’t check users’ age to a judge, who then decides whether a platform should be blocked in France. A ruling on a high-profile case involving PornHub is expected on July 7, according to L’Informé. The new bill would allow Arcom to order the blocking and delisting of adult websites that are not compliant without having to go through a judge. The regulator would also be empowered to impose fines as high as €500,000 or 6 percent of firms’ global turnover, NextInpact reported.
The fact that French lawmakers are determined to ensure that the new legal regime is actually effective is encouraging, and the aggressive penalties aimed at the porn industry indicate a shift in how governments deal with an industry that has been preying on children virtually unimpeded for decades.
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The Netherlands is getting fed up with the porn industry’s behavior, as well. According to Vice:
One of the world’s most popular porn sites has three weeks to audit all of its amateur content for documentation of consent, a judge in the Netherlands has ruled. xHamster, owned by Hammy Media, was ordered to verify or remove all amateur videos showing recognizable people who live in the Netherlands, as first reported by Ars Technica. The ruling comes after the Netherlands-based Expertise Bureau for Online Child Abuse identified 10 videos where xHamster couldn’t supply proof that the uploaders gave documentation that the performers in the videos consented to appearing on the site.
The ruling will affect content showing people who live in the Netherlands, but also content featuring people all over the world, which must be restricted within the Netherlands. If the content isn’t documented or removed within three weeks, Hammy Media faces a $32,000 fine per day.
Porn companies have been complaining that age verification, lawsuits, and government action have had a “chilling effect” on their ability to make a living, which is great news. If I had my way, these companies would not only be shut down, but the pornographers and industry executives would be charged, convicted, and imprisoned for what they have done to not only two generations of children but to many adults, as well.
Prison is too good for these purveyors of poison, and the damage they have perpetrated is incalculable.
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