French regulator ARCOM orders major platforms to act on child sexual abuse material under DSA
Guardii Analysis
France's audiovisual and digital communications regulator ARCOM issued formal notices on 1 October 2024 to several major online platforms requiring them to take immediate action to prevent the distribution of child sexual abuse material, citing obligations under both French law and the European Union's Digital Services Act. The enforcement action follows evidence that prohibited content remained accessible despite existing reporting mechanisms, and ARCOM has warned that failure to comply will result in financial penalties and potential service restrictions.
Regulatory enforcement that mandates content removal after the fact does not address the window of exposure between upload and detection, during which material may be viewed, shared or used to extort victims. Real-time detection that identifies child sexual abuse material including AI-generated and deepfake imagery at the moment of upload or transmission can trigger immediate blocking and escalation to the appropriate authority, preventing distribution before harm compounds. Guardii operates at this preventive threshold, scanning content and conversational context across platforms subject to Digital Services Act obligations, flagging prohibited material and predatory patterns for removal and investigation without building a searchable archive of the content itself, enabling platforms to meet their duty-of-care and rapid-response obligations under French and EU law.