Latest news with #Chappaz
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
TikTok blocks #SkinnyTok due to extreme weight loss, disordered eating content
TikTok says it has blocked search results for the hashtag "SkinnyTok"due to a high volume of content that was promoting disordered eating and unhealthy weight loss behaviours on the social media platform. "We regularly review our safety measures to address evolving risks and have blocked search results for #skinnytok since it has become linked to unhealthy weight loss content," said a statement from TikTok emailed to CBC News Wednesday. "We continue to restrict videos from teen accounts and provide health experts and information in TikTok Search," the statement read. The term SkinnyTok has become widely used to describe an online subculture of influencers and content creators that promote extreme thinness. Under the umbrella of #SkinnyTok, creators make videos with snappy one-liners such as, "Skinny is the outfit," encouraging viewers to achieve their goals by following extreme weight loss advice. LISTEN | How viral social media trends around body image impact young men: Now, searches for SkinnyTok will yield no results except for a message that prompts users to check out expert resources. In Canada, viewers will see contact information and links for groups such as the National Eating Disorder Information Centre and Anorexie et boulimie Québec. TikTok's decision to block SkinnyTok came after the platform noted an increase in content promoting disordered eating and unhealthy weight loss behaviours earlier this year, according to the spokesperson. In April, France's Minister of State for Digital Affairs Clara Chappaz reported the hashtag to the country's digital watchdog and the European Commission. Chappaz and French nurse Charlyne Buigues have been campaigning to have TikTok block the hashtag since April. A petition Buigues started to get the hashtag banned gained nearly 35,000 signatures. On June 1, Chappaz said in French on X: "Today, @tiktok just confirmed to me that it has finally removed this unacceptable hashtag from its platform. This is a first collective victory. I salute it."
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Pornhub blocks access in France to protest age restrictions
Pornhub blocks access in France to protest age restrictions Pornhub, Redtube and Youporn were scheduled to be suspended in France on Wednesday, according to parent company Aylo. Instead of porn, the company will only display a statement on France's new regulations that require porn sites to verify that their users are 18 or older, a Pornhub spokesperson said on Tuesday. Alyo's sites, like other porn sites available in France, has until June 7, 2025, to implement a rigorous new age verification standard. It's part of a French government push to shield minors from inappropriate content. France's Deputy Minister for Digital Technology Clara Chappaz defended the government's move late on Tuesday. "We're not stigmatizing adults who want to consume this content, but we mustn't do so at the expense of protecting our children," she told France's Europe 1 TV. The sites aren't protecting children, so it is now the government's responsibility, she said. What is Aylo's issue with the age-verification law? Currently, users to explicit sites can click a a box declaring they are over 18, but their age isn't actually verified. France's new standard requires explicit websitesto verify a user's age using a credit card or a government-issued ID document. And to protect users' identities, the standard requires porn sites to use an external site for this age verification. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 새로 나온 '암보험' 최적가 가입추천! "보험사별 맞춤설계+할인 혜택"… 굿리치 보험대리점 (등록번호:제2006038313호) 가격 받기 Undo Using a principle known as double anonymity, the porn sites will then only receive confirmation that the person is of legal age and will not know their identity. The external service provider will know the identity of the user but not the reason for the age check or the sites the user visits. Alyo has said that it is in favor of age verification but says it should be done on the devices used rather than on the websites visited. The porn industry giant has called the French government's measure potentially privacy infringing and ineffective. In a post on X on Tuesday, deputy minister Chappaz said the standard, with its double anonymity, guaranteed privacy. "It's unacceptable to lie when you don't want to respect the law," she posted. "If Aylo would rather leave France than apply our law, they are free to do so." How many minors watch porn in France? Users in France account for Pornhub's second largest audience after the United States, according to Pornhub's own statistics for 2024. And, says France's digital and audiovisual communication regulator Arcom, some 2.3 million minors access porn websites every month in the country. That's 12% of France's total number of porn users. Adult content platforms have come under fire elsewhere in the European Union. EU regulators said last month that they would investigate several porn sites, including Pornhub, for failing to comply with rules to protect children.
Local France
3 days ago
- Business
- Local France
Porn sites suspend services in France in protest at age verification law
Pornhub and Youporn suspended access to their content in France until further notice in protest against the law. In January, France introduced rules that required all French porn websites and those based outside the European Union to introduce a mechanism to confirm the age of users . This was extended with a decree published in March that extended the measures to companies in the European Union – including Cyprus-based PornHub and YouPorn, as well as Hungary-based Jacquie et Michel. Governments have battled for years to find ways to stop young people viewing online pornography, while balancing the right to privacy of adult users. Age verification can be done with a credit card or by sending an identity document, but websites are also required to offer at least one "double blind" option for users to prove their age without revealing their identity. Advertisement But administrators at the pornographic websites pointed to privacy issues and the risk of personal data leaks in age verification, and argued that the solution must come from devices and operating systems. In the end, two decided to suspend their services in France, effective from Wednesday June 4th. Pornhub and Youporn's decision was welcomed – with no little irony – by France's Minister for Digital Affairs Clara Chappaz, who said she 'wished them well'. 'I say goodbye to them!' Chappaz said in an interview with France Inter, following the sites' decision. 'Because no one is above the law. 'If these websites prefer to withdraw from France rather than protect our children, they have no place here.' And she dismissed their data protection argument. 'It's too easy to take adults hostage and say 'we don't want to comply with our obligations'. 'These are simple obligations, which consist of saying that we can no longer be satisfied with the fact that children can click on the 'I am over 18' button to access adult content. 'It is not about stigmatising adults, but about protecting our children. If they don't want to do it, let them leave. 'I cannot accept that these sites, which generate hundreds of millions of euros, tell us that they are not ready, that there is no solution,' she added, citing 'about 15' possible technical solutions. She said that a number of other sites had 'complied' with the new rules. Advertisement Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, had previously said it would comply with the law but has warned that the rules would likely prove 'ineffective' and 'dangerous' for users' security and privacy. It argues that under-age internet users could be sent to other less regulated and more extreme areas of the internet. A 2023 report by French senators found that two thirds of children aged 15 or less had seen pornographic content and concluded that there was 'massive, ordinary and toxic' viewing of porn by children, as well as routinely violent content.
DW
3 days ago
- Business
- DW
Pornhub blocks access in France to protest age restrictions – DW – 06/04/2025
The firm behind Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn plans to temporarily block access to its adult content in France. Pornhub, Redtube and Youporn were scheduled to be suspended in France on Wednesday onwards, according to parent company Aylo. Instead of porn, the company will only display a statement on France's new regulations that require porn sites to verify that their users are 18 or older, a Pornhub spokesperson said on Tuesday. Alyo's sites, like other porn sites available in France, has until June 7, 2025, to implement a rigorous new age verification standard. It's part of a French government push to shield minors from inappropriate content. France's Deputy Minister for Digital Technology Clara Chappaz defended the government's move late on Tuesday. "We're not stigmatizing adults who want to consume this content, but we mustn't do so at the expense of protecting our children," she told France's Europe1 TV. The sites aren't protecting children, so it is now the government's responsibility, she said. What is Aylo's issue with the age-verification law? Currently, users to explicit sites can click a a box declaring they are over 18, but their age isn't actually verified. France's new standard requires explicit websites to verify a user's age using a credit card or a government-issued ID document. And to protect users' identities, the standard requires porn sites to use an external site for this age verification. Using a principle known as double anonymity, the porn sites will then only receive confirmation that the person is of legal age and will not know their identity. The external service provider will know the identity of the user but not the reason for the age check or the sites the user visits. Alyo has said that it is in favor of age verification but says it should be done on the devices used rather than on the websites visited. The porn industry giant has called the French government's measure potentially privacy infringing and ineffective. In a post on X on Tuesday, deputy minister Chappaz said the standard, with its double anonymity, guaranteed privacy. "It's unacceptable to lie when you don't want to respect the law," she posted. "If Aylo would rather leave France than apply our law, they are free to do so." How many minors watch porn in France? Users in France account for Pornhub's second largest audience after the United States, according to Pornhub's own statistics for 2024. And, says France's digital and audiovisual communication regulator Arcom, some 2.3 million minors access porn websites every month in the country. That's 12% of France's total number of porn users. Adult content platforms have come under fire elsewhere in the European Union. EU regulators said last month that they would investigate several porn sites, including Pornhub, for failing to comply with rules to protect children. Edited by: Zac Crellin
Engadget
3 days ago
- Health
- Engadget
TikTok now blocks search results for #SkinnyTok
TikTok no longer shows search results for the hashtag #SkinnyTok. Critics who supported this block said some videos with that label were promoting disordered eating and other unhealthy or risky diet behaviors. We've reached out to TikTok for comment on this development. France's Minister of State for Digital Affairs Clara Chappaz was one of the politicians leading the pushback against this particular hashtag. She has been campaigning against #SkinnyTok with both French and EU regulators since April . "These videos promoting extreme thinness are revolting and absolutely unacceptable," Chappaz said. "Digital tools are marvellous in terms of progress and freedom, but badly used they can shatter lives … the social networks cannot escape their responsibility." While blocking search results for potentially harmful hashtags is a positive step, it only places hurdles in the path of people who want to seek out similar videos. "Users are savvy," Cornell University professor Brooke Erin Duffy told The New York Times . "They know how to work these platforms and how to evade their content moderation systems." A block on one hashtag is just the latest in TikTok's piecemeal approach toward content that could encourage eating disorders. In 2020 it placed restrictions on ads that might "promote a negative or harmful body image," such as fasting apps and weight loss supplements. TikTok began a partnership with the National Eating Disorder Association in 2021 to offer more resources for users with eating disorders. Later that year, it also introduced a new approach to the For You page in an effort to reduce the impact of watching too many repeated clips on a negative topic.
