Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

France’s global push for online child safety

France’s global push for online child safety

The French president launched the Children Online Protection Laboratory to shield minors from harmful internet content
French President Emmanuel Macron made the protection of children online one of his top priorities during his re-election campaign. He now wants to make France a global influencer on the issue. 

The Elysée Palace on Thursday announced the creation of a Children Online Protection Laboratory to improve safety for minors online across the world. The initiative aims to pull in campaigners, researchers and tech giants to figure out best practices on issues ranging from privacy to digital literacy.

Meta Platforms, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, TikTok and French platform Dailymotion agreed to sign a charter, modeled after the Christchurch Call, a non-binding initiative led after the 2019 Christchurch terror attacks by Macron and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern aimed at curbing the spread of terrorist material on the internet. 

Child safety online is a hot-button issue in Europe, encompassing key digital angles such as privacy protection, the fight against cyberbullying, the proliferation of child sexual abuse material, age verification on adult websites and social networks, and mental well-being.

France's move comes amid a wider set of actions on child safety in the past few years, as both the French president and First Lady Brigitte Macron have pushed for reforms on the issue.

But while some of their efforts have proven successful, others have yielded mixed results: The country's flagship legislation aimed at preventing minors from accessing adult websites has so far not been entirely implemented by porn platforms, more than two years after it was voted through. 

Age verification online raises other issues, including privacy, and the rules are currently facing challenges in courts, as policymakers have left it to companies to come up with solutions on their own.

Emmanuel Macron has long used the Paris Peace Forum as a launching pad for international initiatives on technology and cyber. Last year, he launched, together with UNICEF, a call for action to defend children’s rights online.

In the first year, participants will work on developing a trusted third-party system to verify the age of Internet users; on AI technology to detect conversations where sexual predators pose as minors ; and the creation of a shared database among platforms to identify and remove non-consensual intimate images shared online. 


Age verification stalemate

It's unclear how the Laboratory's projects will interact with the flurry of child-protection rules adopted in France in the past few years, including a law to require smartphone and tablet manufacturers to give parents the option to control their children’s internet access and another to fight against cyberbullying at school. 

It's also unclear how it will work with the EU's draft regulation on the fight against child sexual abuse online, that Paris — unlike Berlin — backs in Brussels. 

Projects on age verification however could help France get out of the stalemate it's currently in when it comes to adult websites, as policymakers have long said that solutions should come from the industry. 

On the ground, however, the legislation requiring adult websites to verify their users' age is running into technical and legal obstacles, resulting in a legal tug-of-war between the audiovisual and platform regulator Arcom and porn websites. 

The next legal move will come from France's highest court — the Cour de Cassation —  which has until early January next year to decide whether to ask the Constitutional Council to assess the French age verification rules' compatibility with the Constitution.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
×