PARIS — French Secretary of State for Childhood Charlotte Caubel has begun advocating for a mandatory age verification system under which access to pornographic websites would be granted exclusively to credit or debit card holders.
Caubel told the nation’s National Assembly on Tuesday that her solution is a “pragmatic” approach that would “filter” pornographic websites. It would be up the French government to determine what sites qualify as pornographic, and it is unclear if Caubel’s proposal would prevent anyone without a debit card from accessing mainstream platforms such as Twitter and Reddit, which tolerate adult content.
In her remarks, Caubel used the term “carte bleue,” which generically refers to both credit and debit cards.
Caubel vowed to push seriously for implementing some form of age verification, but was vague on specifics, telling the lawmakers that her payment card plan would involve charging “zero or one Euro” to allow access to pornographic sites.
“This would already be a filter,” Caubel said. “We have been opposed by saying that this would not be a perfect filter, but if we can already protect 30 or 40% [of minors], let’s be pragmatic. My child, when he uses his carte bleue, I get an alert. I can see if it’s being used on YouPorn or on McDonalds.”
Raising her voice indignantly, Caubel alleged that France “is the fourth country in the world in the production of child pornography. Until when do we have to wait to open our eyes? It destroys our children from within.”
“Let’s stop using tweezers — yes, it destroys our children from the inside. And it prevents breaking the chain of sexual violence that we continue to feed,” Caubel continued, conflating CSAM with legal adult material and echoing a sensationalistic report about “the infernal porn industry” produced by a French Senate committee and SWERF organizations last month.
“There is an opposition today between the freedom to go to adult porn sites and the trauma created for our children,” Caubel continued. “This is a matter of values. Let’s consider them together and see which ones we defend.”