The French National Assembly has backed off from a proposal to criminalize the purchase, and/or facilitation by online platforms, of sexual services performed remotely by streamers and custom content creators. French criminal law punishes clients of
prostitutes as well as anyone who profits financially from prostitution. However, Frances highest court has ruled that online services such as camming do not fall under the definition of prostitution. In the original version of Bill 3106, which is
aimed at addressing sexual and gender-based violence against women and children, Article 25 would have broadened the definition of prostitution to include the online purchase of sexual acts, treating online platforms that facilitate streaming and custom
content as 'pimps,' and users who tip streamers or commission customs as 'johns.' Such a ban could have led to enforcement against fan and webcam platforms, their users, and conceivably even against creators who collaborate together. A similar ban
was enacted in Sweden last year. Assembly member Sarah Legrain told legislators: We are not talking about platforms that allow clients and people engaged in prostitution to meet in person, but rather about acts
carried out behind a camera ... a customer at a strip club can pay to physically attend a striptease; however, someone who requests footage of a striptease from a consenting individual, filmed at home--in a setting likely more protective than that of a
strip club--could be prosecuted, as could the landlord of the apartment and the platform that hosted the content. Similarly, it is perfectly legal to buy a pornographic film in which two adults have had physical sexual relations in a film studio ...
however, it would become illegal to watch someone, alone behind their camera, at home, caressing their feet.
Deputy Ségolène Amiot urged members to consider the issue carefully.: After voting to water down Article 25, it now
criminalizes the purchase of remote sexual services only if the buyer is aware that a performer or model is a victim of online sexual exploitation.
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