MARSEILLE, France — Veteran French adult company Dorcel is currently testing a “double anonymity” age verification solution designed by a Marseille-based tech company.
According to a report this week by French news site BFMTV’s ”Tech & Co.” podcast, the Dorcel Group is testing an AV solution by GreenBadg, a Marseille company founded two years ago. The report states that 10,000 visitors to Dorcel’s site will be targeted during the test period.
GreenBadg founder Jacky Lamraoui told “Tech & Co.” that his company built its solution in consultation with French authorities, including media regulator ARCOM.
Dorcel settled on GreenBadg after analyzing several possible solutions currently on the market. To access Dorcel sites, users must first register on GreenBadg by providing identification and a video selfie. Another company, IDNow — formerly Ariadnext — will verify the ID, from which the date of birth is extracted, and confirm that the ID photo corresponds to the video selfie.
Lamraoui explained that GreenBagd is the “technical interface,” while the actual age verification is handled by IDNow. The video selfie/ID photo facial comparison, he added, “is performed by artificial intelligence, with a second validation done by a human.”
Once verified, the user will receive a badge valid for three years, allowing them to scan a QR Code on the relevant site to certify they are over 18.
The data collected by GreenBagd will be hosted on Clever Cloud.
Lamraoui noted that he expects his “multi-use” GreenBagd solution also to be used for sales on CBD or alcohol sites.
The National Commission for Computing and Liberties, a privacy advocacy group, cautioned in 2022 that age verification companies would effectively “have in their possession a database containing identity documents and lists of porn sites viewed,” ”Tech & Co.” reported.
Macron Government Intends to Force AV Implementation
As XBIZ reported, the center-right Macron administration is promoting a new bill to bypass French courts and force platforms to implement age verification.
The proposed mandate will apply not only to specifically adult sites but also to any site that allows explicit content, including Twitter.
The new bill is being touted by the Macron administration as an effort to “secure and regulate the digital space.”
Minister Delegate for Digital Jean-Noël Barrot announced last month the government’s intention to empower online media regulator ARCOM to order, without needing to go through the courts, the blocking and delisting of adult sites that do not prevent minors from accessing their content.
Barrot has vowed to bring about “the end of access to pornographic sites for our children” in 2023.
The five most popular adult sites in France — Pornhub, Tukif, xHamster, XVideos and Xnxx — have been explicitly targeted by the government. In April, the sites presented their objections to the controversial, vaguely worded 2020 law allowing France’s online content regulator, ARCOM, to seek a blocking order to target sites “that fail to prevent minors from accessing online pornography.”
France’s age verification mandate was surreptitiously added to a hastily approved domestic violence law during an atypical and sparsely attended COVID-era session of the French Parliament in July 2020.
The five sites’ lawyers presented requests to nullify the proceedings and order a stay of the proposed block. The tribunal then gave itself until July 7 to make a decision.
