France launches national plan to combat online sexual violence against children

The French government has announced a national plan to combat online sexual violence against children, including legislative proposals to require platforms to deploy detection technologies for grooming and CSAM, establish a dedicated prosecutor's office for online child exploitation, and mandate digital-safety education in schools. The plan commits €50 million over three years and follows a 72 percent increase in reported online child-abuse cases between 2020 and 2023. Platform operators will be required to report detected abuse to authorities within 24 hours and to retain evidence for criminal investigations.

Detection mandates are effective only when the underlying technology can operate at platform scale without overwhelming investigators or violating user privacy. Guardii analyses conversation patterns in real time across Instagram, Snapchat, Discord and Roblox, identifying grooming behaviours such as isolation, flattery, gift-promising and progressive boundary-testing without requiring human review of every exchange. When a conversation crosses a risk threshold, the system surfaces it to safeguarding teams or law enforcement with context about escalation and coercion tactics, enabling rapid triage and lawful intervention. For a government requiring platforms to detect and report abuse within tight timelines, this pattern-based approach delivers the speed and specificity necessary to meet statutory duties while focusing investigative resource on genuine threats.