French Court Rules Against Tighter Restrictions On Porn Sites

PARIS, Oct 8 (Reuters) - A French court on Friday rejected a claim brought by two children's associations that aimed to tighten access to pornography on the internet, a spokesperson for one of the plaintiffs told Reuters.

"The court has rejected the claim and the sites will not be blocked," said Gaelle de Montousse, head of communications at e-Enfance, one of the associations which brought the case to court.

E-Enfance and La Voix de l'Enfant had taken the country's leading internet providers to court, arguing that current verification standards - ticking a box indicating the user is over 18 - made it too easy for children to access the websites.

Via their lawsuit against telecom firms including Orange, Free, SFR and thu mua vải ký minh quân đánh trẻ em Bouygues Telecom, the groups had aimed to block or further restrict children's access to nine of the world's top porn sites, including PornHub and Xvideos.

(Reporting by Sarah Morland in Paris Editing by Geert De Clercq and Peter Graff)