France can enforce porn site age checks, EU court says
PARIS, June 16 (Reuters) – The EU’s top court ruled on Tuesday that France can require pornographic “websites” elsewhere in the bloc to verify users’ ages, backing national efforts to protect minors from adult content online.
The European Union is preparing a voluntary age verification exercise, and countries around the world are trying to impose Australian-style restrictions on young people’s online access. The UK announced plans on Monday to ban under-16s from major social media platforms from next year.
• France’s age-checking rules restrict the free movement of online services but can be justified on public policy grounds, including the protection of minors, the Court of Justice said.
• Operators of pornographic websites cannot claim exemption from hosting liability for user content they store or republish if they control that content, he said.
• It was stated that such measures may also apply to service providers located in other EU countries, if France asks its own country to take action first and informs both that country and the European Commission, except in urgent cases.
• Czech firms WebGroup Czech Republic and NKL Associates had challenged French rules requiring publishers of pornographic websites to block minors from accessing their sites.
• The court said the EU’s “country of origin” principle still applies, which means “online services are generally regulated by the member state in which they are established.”
(Reporting by Hugo Lhomedet; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
