Read the Act on securing and regulating digital space: sorting out regulatory obligations regarding content for internet service operators

Almost exactly a year after it was submitted and passed into regulation Conseil Constitutionnelmicroscope – with some serious casualties, in particular the condemnation of the crime of contempt on the Internet – the French law on the security and regulation of digital spaces (“SREN Act“) was adopted on May 21, 2024.

The SREN Act aims to further regulate the digital space, focusing on three main areas: (i) protection of citizens, especially minors; (ii) ensuring European economic and digital sovereignty; and (iii) aligning French law with European regulations. To achieve its ambitious goals, the SREN Act covers a wide range of topics, from interoperability obligations of cloud service providers aimed at strengthening trust and competition in the data economy, to the regulation of gaming with revenue-generating digital objects. Finally, the SREN Act transposes recently adopted European legislation, in particular the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, into French national law.

Among its sixty articles, the SREN Act provides for new content regulatory obligations imposed on various online service providers (1) to protect minors from online pornography and (2) to further combat online fraud, hate and disinformation. This article discusses this new regulatory landscape.

1. Protecting minors from internet pornography

In order to protect minors from online pornography, the SREN Act amends the Digital Economy Trust Act (implementing the e-commerce directive under French law) (“LCEN”) and creates new powers for the agency responsible for digital communications, i.e Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique (“ARCOM“), in particular prescriptive powers. The main obligations of the SREN Act in addition to the LCEN can be summarized as follows.

2. Fight online fraud, hate and disinformation

On a broader level, the SREN Act also aims to further combat online fraud, hate and disinformation through a variety of means. The main obligations imposed on platforms in these areas can be summarized as follows.

Most of the provisions of the SREN Act entered into force on May 23, 2024, i.e. the day after its publication. However, several implementing decrees are expected to specify the conditions under which some of the provisions described above will apply. Search engines and online media platforms should review their content moderation policies for compliance with the new law and should monitor the implementing decrees for further clarification on the application of the SREN Act. If you have any questions regarding the SREN Act, please contact the authors of this alert.

Find out more about the SREN Act.

Link to the SREN Act: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000049563368

Link to the blog article from our Technology and Data team “Legal Framework for NFTs and Other Tradable Assets in Video Games: The Great French Experiment”: https://www.connectontech.com/a-legal-framework-for-nfts-and-other-tradeable-assets-in-video-games-the-great-french-experiment/