France’s global push for online child safety - POLITICO Europe

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron made the protection of children online 1 of his apical priorities during his re-election campaign. He now wants to marque France a planetary influencer connected the issue.

The Elysée Palace connected Thursday announced the instauration of a Children Online Protection Laboratory to amended information for minors online crossed the world. The inaugural aims to propulsion successful campaigners, researchers and tech giants to fig retired champion practices connected issues ranging from privateness to integer literacy.

Meta Platforms, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, TikTok and French level Dailymotion agreed to sign a charter, modeled aft the Christchurch Call, a non-binding initiative led aft the 2019 Christchurch panic attacks by Macron and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern aimed astatine curbing the dispersed of violent worldly connected the internet. 

Child information online is a hot-button issue in Europe, encompassing cardinal integer angles specified arsenic privateness protection, the combat against cyberbullying, the proliferation of child intersexual maltreatment material, property verification connected big websites and societal networks, and intelligence well-being.

France's determination comes amid a wider acceptable of actions connected kid information successful the past fewer years, arsenic some the French president and First Lady Brigitte Macron person pushed for reforms connected the issue.

The Secretary of State for Children Charlotte Caubel said that recognition cards could beryllium a solution | Christophe Archambault/AFP via Getty images

But portion immoderate of their efforts person proven successful, others person yielded mixed results: The country's flagship legislation aimed astatine preventing minors from accessing big websites has truthful acold not been wholly implemented by porn platforms, much than 2 years aft it was voted through. 

Age verification online raises different issues, including privacy, and the rules are presently facing challenges successful courts, arsenic policymakers person near it to companies to travel up with solutions connected their own.

Emmanuel Macron has agelong utilized the Paris Peace Forum arsenic a launching pad for planetary initiatives connected exertion and cyber. Last year, helium launched, unneurotic with UNICEF, a telephone for enactment to support children’s rights online.

In the archetypal year, participants volition enactment connected developing a trusted third-party strategy to verify the property of Internet users; connected AI exertion to observe conversations wherever intersexual predators airs arsenic minors ; and the instauration of a shared database among platforms to place and region non-consensual intimate images shared online. 

Age verification stalemate

It's unclear however the Laboratory's projects volition interact with the flurry of child-protection rules adopted successful France successful the past fewer years, including a law to necessitate smartphone and tablet manufacturers to springiness parents the enactment to power their children’s net entree and different to fight against cyberbullying astatine school.

It's besides unclear however it volition enactment with the EU's draft regulation connected the combat against kid intersexual maltreatment online, that Paris — dissimilar Berlin — backs successful Brussels.

Projects connected property verification nevertheless could assistance France get retired of the stalemate it's presently successful erstwhile it comes to big websites, arsenic policymakers person agelong said that solutions should travel from the industry.

On the ground, however, the authorities requiring big websites to verify their users' property is moving into method and ineligible obstacles, resulting successful a ineligible tug-of-war betwixt the audiovisual and level regulator Arcom and porn websites.

The adjacent ineligible determination will come from France's highest tribunal — the Cour de Cassation —  which has until aboriginal January adjacent twelvemonth to determine whether to inquire the Constitutional Council to measure the French property verification rules' compatibility with the Constitution.