Porn sites must check age of French users, says top court

6 days ago

Major pornographic websites Pornhub, YouPorn and RedTube need to verify the age of users in France, the country's top administrative court said Tuesday.More than half of all boys in France access porn sites on average every month from age 12, French audiovisual watchdog Arcom said in June.France is trying to prevent minors from accessing pornography, but has faced pushback from adult websites.The government in March ordered porn sites based in the European Union, but not in France, to check the ages of their visitors based on a French law from 2024, to prevent underage users from accessing them.Pornhub, YouPorn and RedTube, all owned by the same parent company, made themselves unavailable in France in early June in protest.Hammy Limited, an adult film firm based on Cyprus and the operator of the Xhamster platform, took legal steps against the French decree.The Paris administrative tribunal last month then suspended it, pending an investigation into whether it was compatible with EU legislation.After the government appealed, the Council of State, the country's top administrative court, on Tuesday said it had annulled that suspension."YouPorn and Pornhub hit a wall. Judicial manoeuvrings in order to not protect children don't work," said France's junior minister for digital affairs Clara Chappaz on X.In a bid to protect privacy, Arcom, the French watchdog, has recommended operators offer a third-party "double-blind" option that would prevent the platforms from seeing users' identifying information.Aylo, which reports seven million visitors in France daily across its various platforms, has called instead for governments to require makers of operating systems such as Apple, Microsoft and Google to verify users' ages at the level of individual devices.The EU Commission said on Monday that five EU countries, including France, would test an app aimed at preventing children from accessing harmful content online.The commission unveiled the prototype of an age-verification app that Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain will customise to launch national versions within several months.

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Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on French probe against Elon Musk's Twitter: ‘At this point, any tech company…'

Time of India

20 minutes ago

Time of India

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on French probe against Elon Musk's Twitter: ‘At this point, any tech company…'

French authorities are investigating Elon Musk owned X (formerly Twitter) for alleged algorithm manipulation. The social media platform denied the allegations, calling it 'a politically-motivated criminal investigation'. Responding to the news, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has now shared an X post where he said that 'at this point, any tech company can be declared a 'criminal gang' in France". Durov further stated that such investigations can be harmful for attracting investments. 'A decade of efforts to attract tech investment is being undone by a few bureaucrats advancing their careers and political agendas — at the expense of the French people,' he wrote in the post. Why French lawmakers are probing Twitter Earlier this month, French prosecutors opened a preliminary probe into the social media platform, accusing it of data tampering. Based on suspected algorithmic bias and fraudulent data extraction, the probe authorizes police to conduct searches, wiretaps and surveillance against Elon Musk and Twitter executives, or summon them to testify. If they do not comply, a judge could issue an arrest warrant, a Reuters report said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Translation of all Languages Translation of all Languages | Search Ads Search Now Undo Twitter responds to French probe Responding to the probe, X Global Government Affairs account wrote on X: 'French authorities have launched a politically-motivated criminal investigation into X over the alleged manipulation of its algorithm and alleged 'fraudulent data extraction.' X categorically denies these allegations.' The post further continued 'This investigation, instigated by French politician Eric Bothorel, egregiously undermines X's fundamental right to due process and threatens our users' rights to privacy and free speech. Mr Bothorel has accused X of manipulating its algorithm for 'foreign interference' purposes, an allegation which is completely false.' 'X is committed to defending its fundamental rights, protecting user data and resisting political censorship,' the post concluded. Google Pixel 10 Series Launch: Everything Coming on August 20 AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now

France's top diplomat calls for foreign press access to Gaza

The Hindu

42 minutes ago

The Hindu

France's top diplomat calls for foreign press access to Gaza

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Tuesday (July 22, 2025) called on Israel to allow foreign press into the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza, as warnings of famine mount after 21 months of war. He spoke after the AFP news agency warned that the lives of Palestinian freelance journalists it was working with in Gaza were in danger and urged Israel to allow them and their families to leave the occupied coastal territory. "I ask that the free and independent press be allowed to access Gaza to show what is happening there and to bear witness," Barrot told France Inter radio in an interview from eastern Ukraine. Asked if France would help AFP stringers leave Gaza, Mr. Barrot said France was "addressing the issue" and hoped to be able to evacuate freelancers working with French journalists "in the coming weeks". On Monday, an association of journalists at AFP called the Société des Journalistes (Society of Journalists) sounded the alarm, urging "immediate intervention" to help reporters working with the agency in Gaza. The SDJ cited the example of one such freelancer, a 30-year-old living with his family in Gaza City, who reported on Sunday that his older brother "fell because of hunger". "We have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had injuries and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us can remember seeing a colleague die of starvation," it said. AFP management responded in a statement posted on X and Instagram, which said that it shared the anguish about the "dire situation" of colleagues in Gaza. "Since October 7, Israel has prohibited access to the Gaza Strip for all international journalists. "In this context, the work of our Palestinian freelancers is crucial to inform the world," it said. "But their lives are in danger, which is why we urge the Israeli authorities to allow their immediate evacuation along with their families." AFP evacuated its eight staff members and their families from Gaza between January and April 2024. Mr. Barrot called for an "immediate ceasefire" after Israel on Monday expanded military operations to the central city of Deir el-Balah. "There is no longer any justification for the Israeli army's military operations in Gaza," he said. "This is an offensive that will exacerbate an already catastrophic situation and cause new forced displacements of populations, which we condemn in the strongest terms."

Microsoft looks to boost AI performance in European languages

Time of India

an hour ago

Time of India

Microsoft looks to boost AI performance in European languages

US tech behemoth Microsoft is investing millions of dollars to funnel more European-language data into AI development, company president Brad Smith told AFP Monday. With today's leading AI models mostly trained on material in English, "the survival of these languages and the health of these cultures is quite literally at stake" without a course correction, Smith said in an interview. AI models are "less capable when it is in a language that has insufficient data," he added -- which could push more users to switch to English even when it is not their native language. Microsoft will from September set up research units in the eastern French city Strasbourg to "help expand the availability of multilingual data for AI development" in at least 10 of the European Union's 24 languages, including Estonian and Greek. The work will include digitising books and recording hundreds of hours of audio. "This isn't about creating data for Microsoft to own. It is about creating data for the public to be able to use," Smith said, adding that the information would be shared on an open-source basis. The US-based company has in recent months striven to position itself as especially compatible with a gathering political push for European technological sovereignty. Leaders in the bloc have grown increasingly nervous at their dependency on US tech firms and infrastructure since Donald Trump's reelection to the White House. In June, Microsoft said it was stepping up cooperation with European governments on cybersecurity and announced new " data sovereignty " measures for its data centers on the continent. Smith said that Monday's announcement was just the latest evidence of the company's commitment to Europe. Most leading AI firms are American or Chinese, although Europe has some standouts like France's Mistral or Franco-American platform Hugging Face. Away from Microsoft, some European initiatives such as TildeLM are pushing to develop local-language AI models. The Windows and Office developer also said Monday that it was working on a digital recreation of Paris' Notre-Dame cathedral that it plans to gift to the French state, as well as digitising items from the country's BNF national library and Decorative Arts Museum.