2023-10-17 20:04:18
The National Assembly largely approved at first reading, Tuesday October 17, the bill for regulating the digital space (SREN). The majority managed to rally some of the opposition to this text which promises to better fight against cyberharassment, Internet scams, or even the accessibility of pornographic sites to minors.
The text had raised serious concerns about the protection of public freedoms, from the National Rally (RN), La France insoumise (LFI) but also from certain majority parliamentarians.
At the end of the debates, the government received the support of the Republicans, the Socialist Party, most of the elected representatives of the Libertés, Independents, Overseas and Territories Group, and benefited from the abstention of the RN, Europe Écologie les Greens and the French Communist Party. The text was voted on by 360 votes to 77, mainly those of LFI. It had already been unanimously approved in the Senate on July 5.
Summary: Article reserved for our subscribers From pornography to cyberharassment: the National Assembly debates a law to “secure and regulate the digital space”
The joint committee (CMP) during which senators and deputies will try to agree on a common version could be held in December. LFI should seize the Constitutional Council after the adoption in CMP, considering, through the voice of the deputy Ségolène Amiot, that the government was installing “the practical tools of mass social control”.
Blocking pornographic sites
If the Assembly approved the idea of providing access to a ” Numeric identity “ to all French people who wish it by 2027, Internet users will not be required to have one to open an account on social networks, as the general rapporteur Paul Midy (Renaissance) and “nearly 200 deputies” of the majority.
MEPs also rejected another measure, which aimed to impose fixed fines for “racist public insults and defamation” or “sexist” In “digital space”.
Building on European regulations on digital services and digital markets (DSA and DMA), the SREN bill aims to ” Red string “ the “protection of citizens, children and businesses”explained the delegate minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who initiated the law.
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In particular, it gives the possibility to an administrative authority to block pornographic sites that do not prevent minors from accessing their content; it gives moderation duties to large network platforms, under penalty of financial sanctions; he creates a “penalty of banning from social networks” for cyberstalkers, including for « provocations » to commit certain crimes.
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Cloud regulation
The text also proposes to regulate the cloud to allow more competition among IT infrastructure and service providers, or to regulate the experimental launch of “games with monetizable digital objects” (Jonum), on the border between video games and gambling.
This measure is one of the most criticized in the text, which several deputies hope to see censored by the Constitutional Council, pointing to a break in equality with online casinos. Another point on which deputies wish to see the bill evolve: that of the protection of strategic and sensitive digital data. Many are waiting for senators to toughen the text in a version closer to that which they themselves adopted during the CMP.
The government’s initiatives are under surveillance by the European Commission, which warned France in mid-August about the compliance with community law of two recent legislative initiatives, that concerning influencers and that aiming to establish a digital majority.
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