France Prohibits Porn Sites From Using Credit Cards for AV Checks

PARIS—Arcom, France's digital regulator, announced today that pornography websites operating within the country's digital space are prohibited from using a person's credit card information to verify ages in compliance with its national age verification law. This regulation covers France-based sites and platforms outside the European Union bloc with French users, reports MLex. Platforms must use double-blind age checks, which are preferred by the country's data protection regulator CNIL. Under Arcom's and CNIL's rules, double-blind checks allow cryptographically signed age assurance certificates to be generated and provided to age-restricted platforms, like porn sites, without identifying or tracking the online users initiating the touchpoint. Double-blind checks have been touted as data-minimizing.   As AVN reported, Arcom promulgated rules in 2024 to implement age verification systems for all pornographic websites accessible in the country. This derives from legislation adopted in 2023 by the Assemblée Nationale, France's Parliament, which voted through the bill intended to overhaul the internet and the country's digital space.