In March, measures against children's overexposure to screens were also introduced in parliament.
#AGE OF CONSENT IN FRANCE VERIFICATION#
He further called for "advancements in age verification technology online and heavily investing into digital education for parents, children and teachers."įrench lawmakers recently put forward another bill to children's image rights against abuses by parents on social networks, which still needs to be drafted into law. It will not be enough to put an end to concerns of children's safety online, admitted the lawmaker who spearheaded the act, Laurent Marcangeli, on Wednesday.
The law will also allow parents to request suspension of accounts belonging to their children under 15, and will require sites to offer tools to limit the time children spend on the platform. Social media firms who breach the law will face a fine of up to 1 percent of their global revenues. The new law will explicitly require sites to obtain approval of a user's parent or guardian if they are under 15, using technical solutions that comply with guidelines set out by the French Arcom regulator. Sites are in theory closed to those under the age of 13 in France.īut with some users signing up from just eight years of age, according to the French National Commission for Technology and Freedoms (CNIL), more than half of children aged 10-14 use social media sites like Snapchat and Instagram. Lawmakers' concerns ranged from pornography to cyberstalking, unattainable beauty standards and the attention-grabbing, addictive nature of the platforms, which pose a particular risk for youth.Įxisting regulations mainly focused on collection of personal data have failed to have an impact on children's access to social media. Assuming that all Muslim women in headscarves are oppressed is ignorant. Sites will then have a year to comply with the policy for new subscribers, and another two years to apply the requirements to existing users. Voices In France, the age of consent for sex could soon be lower than for wearing the hijab that really is where we are. The "landmark" law would be "applied as soon as possible", Digital Transition Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told lawmakers.īut the exact date the age verification bill will come into force remains unclear following Thursday's Senate approval, as no specific date was set and the European Commission has yet to check it that it conforms with EU law. However, that clause will not apply to cases of sexual assault.The legislation is part of a string of recent moves by the government to reduce children's screen time and protect them from cyberbullying and other crimes. "No adult aggressor will be able to claim the consent of a minor younger than 15-years-old."Ī so-called "Romeo and Juliet" clause will allow for the possibility of consensual sexual relations between a minor and a partner who is up to five years older. "This is a historic law for our children and our society," Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told the National Assembly. The bill originated in the Senate, meaning it has cleared both houses in France. The lower house of the parliament, the Assemblee Nationale, voted following a second reading of the bill and the legislation comes after a flurry of sexual abuse and incest allegations rocked the nation, in what has been called France's second #MeToo movement. While the age of consent in the country was previously 15, prosecutors had to prove the intercourse was non-consensual in order to get a rape conviction. Under the new legislation, approved on Thursday, sex with children below the age of 15 will be punishable by up to 20 years in jail, unless the age gap between the partners is small. In a landmark vote, French lawmakers have unanimously adopted a legislation that outlaws sex with a child under the age of 15 as rape.
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