In a teenager’s room in Yvelines, Adrien, 16 years old, tries to access PornHub. Nothing. Black screen. A message: "Verify your age via FranceConnect+." At the same time, an Orange technician enforces an Arcom injunction by blocking the IP address of XVideos. From YouPorn to Jacquie et Michel, the scenario repeats. This filtering is part of a digital crusade led by the State in the name of protecting minors. But in the background, a new form of algorithmic surveillance is emerging.
Protecting minors… or filtering adults?
Since the July 2020 law, reinforced by the recent SREN law (Securing and Regulating the Digital Space, 2024), pornographic platforms must establish a strict age verification system. The Arcom now has the power to block a site like Brazzers or BangBros without a judicial decision. Officially, it is about prohibiting access to the 2.3 million minors who view these contents each month.
For Senator Marie Mercier (Les Républicains), "every barrier is progress." But behind this rhetoric, the debate on fundamental digital freedoms is overlooked. Preventing access to OnlyFans, for example, does it protect or censor?
Youth more cunning than the system
The filtering system relies on IP blocking, DNS filtering, and delisting. On the surface, it is deterrent. In reality, it is circumvented. A free VPN like ProtonVPN, Windscribe, or TunnelBear is all it takes. In a few clicks, the user connects via a foreign IP address and accesses Abella Danger, Manuel Ferrara, or Angela White without trouble.
Ironically, this educational filtering introduces teenagers to digital anonymization tools. On June 4, 2025, the day of the massive RedTube block, James Deen and Mia Malkova were still accessible for those who anticipated. And Google recorded a surge in searches: “free VPN.”
The veneer of double anonymity
The Arcom recommends a "double anonymity" system, via an independent age verification third party. This model, still experimental, raises criticism. La Quadrature du Net sees it as a technological shift towards digital moral credit, a soft but omnipresent surveillance.
For Antonio Casilli, a digital sociologist, the system foreshadows a society of behavioral rating. Tomorrow, the State might know that you watched Lana Rhoades on a Wednesday at 9:47 PM, and that you paused the video at 10:13 PM. These metadata, cross-referenced with FranceConnect+, pave the way for automated moral profiling.
A vague and unstable digital morality
But who decides what is “good” to watch? The legal ambiguity on blocking criteria is problematic. The Republican State? Religious groups? Feminist lobbies? For Annick Billon, co-rapporteur of a Senate report on the porn industry, "we must end the impunity of platforms." Yet, X (formerly Twitter) still broadcasts pornographic videos without age verification, with millions of views.
In the feminist camp, the divide is real. Some wish to weaken capitalist porn, a vector of male domination. Others, like Pauline Arrighi, denounce a disguised patriarchal modesty, a desire to infantilize citizens instead of focusing on sexual education and consent.
Adolescence, the screen, and freedom
The blocking of X sites reveals a deeper tension: who controls the digital space? The pink Minitel has given way to a digital jungle. Jordi El Niño Polla is no longer just a porn star, he is also an entry point into a debate on individual freedom. By filtering, the State claims to educate. But don’t we learn better by confronting than by censoring?
The paradox is cruel: 15-year-olds bypass state filtering. Meanwhile, the average internet user endures increasingly rigid control. The digital space, supposed to be a place of emancipation, becomes a theater of an ideological battle. Everyone — State, parents, activists, industries — seeks to impose their norm.
Towards a French social credit?
What is at stake here goes beyond just access to Ava Addams or Danny D.. It is the foundations of digital citizenship that are at play. FranceConnect+ could tomorrow become a unique digital passport, linked to your purchases, medical consultations… or your adult content consumption habits.
How far will we go? Towards a digital good conduct score conditioning access to public services? Towards an automatic account suspension after excessive use of sites classified as “erotic”? Protecting minors is a major issue. But it should not justify social engineering without safeguards.
Between censorship and emancipation, a fragile boundary
Can we educate without censoring? Protect without infantilizing? The blocking of pornographic sites is not just a technical measure, it is a political act with systemic consequences. It raises a dizzying question: how far are we willing to go to protect our children… without giving up our adult freedom?