A Crucial Service for Protecting French Internet Users Disappears Quietly

What would you do if you stumbled upon a child pornography video while you're browsing the internet? Point de Contact, a French organization dedicated to removing illegal content, could have taken your report. However, despite its work of public interest, this structure is on the verge of compulsory liquidation. The reason: a state subsidy was promised but not paid, with no justification provided to date. Interview with Jean-Christophe Le Toquin, president of the association.

Point of Contact in 4 Key Points

1. Point de Contact is an association founded in 1998 as an initiative of the European Commission. Its mission: to receive, analyze, and escalate reports of illegal content published online. These include various areas: child exploitation, incitement to hatred, terrorism...

Point de Contact is the first professional reporter to PHAROS [the official portal for reporting illegal online content] and works closely with the Ministry of the Interior in combating illegal online content.

2. The impact of the association's actions became apparent during the murder of Samuel Paty. Following the tragedy, numerous problematic videos circulated on the Internet. In these circumstances, Point de Contact was able to detect these videos before Europol and Pharos, and have them removed quickly.

After analysis, 10,000 of these confirmed contents (hosted in France) were reported to Pharos. The removal rate of these illegal contents reached 100%.

4. In November 2023, the association launched Disrupt: a platform to assist victims of dissemination of intimate content - whether real or generated by artificial intelligence (deepfake).

Sometimes there are several hundred contents reported by a single person, especially in cases where their partner is in harassment mode.

This is therefore the first service in France, as well as at the European Union level, to address this issue.

This lower removal rate is explained because not all the content in question is considered illegal. However, it is likely that victims would have faced more difficulty in having these contents removed if they did not benefit from the association's connections with Pharos.

A public interest organization that disappears in silence

Following the actions undertaken by the association after the death of Samuel Paty, Point de Contact received funding from the Ministry of the Interior for 3 years. During the first two years, the association received 225,000 euros per year. In May 2023, Point de Contact renewed its request for a subsidy, hoping to get a response in June-July. To date, no feedback regarding the disbursement of this funding has been received.

This silence has led to a loss of a third of the association's budget. A lack of information that has prevented the structure from organizing effectively to take economic measures that have become essential, such as layoffs. At the end of 2023, private members were asked (to no avail) to contribute financially, due to the lack of transparency of the CIPDR (Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization).

To carry out its layoffs according to the rules and hope to survive in 2024, the association now needs 41,000 €. The goal: to enable future leaders to rebuild the structure, or reorganize it. Pointing out the administrative responsibility of the State in its critical situation, the association is asking it to do its part.

We have the support of Marina Ferrari's office on digital issues, but she is not the decision-maker and cannot bring that money. The answer lies with the office of Mrs. Agresti-Robach [Secretary of State for Citizenship], who does not take our calls, does not write to us, does not respond to us. And we are dying.

Contacted by our editorial team, the office of the Secretary of State for Citizenship has not yet responded to our inquiries.

Victims alone in front of their screen

For Jean-Christophe Le Toquin, the consequences of the abrupt suspension of Point de Contact's activities will be disastrous for people in distress:

Behind every report of intimate content, there are desperate people who do not have the means or the courage to hunt down the content for removal. One must realize the violence of such acts for these victims.

He also highlights the expertise of the professionals charged with handling the reports, and the relationships built over the years with institutions that take over:

Fighting against illegal content cannot be improvised. Dealing with shocking, mentally harmful content is not something to leave to an intern or a Civil Service volunteer. These are professionals who need training, supervision, and protection. It's also an entire ecosystem: a trust environment has been built over 25 years with the authorities, the OFMIN [office for combating violence against minors], the national gendarmerie... breaking this tool sends a disastrous message to our employees and to the teams of the Ministry of the Interior, with whom we work.

The context in which this case arises is also of concern to the president of Point de Contact:

Without the association, the reports we receive internationally will be thrown without pre-sorting to Pharos. However, Pharos is already dysfunctional and in distress. During the Olympic Games, their workload will only increase. We can imagine that child exploitation reports will not be dealt with by Pharos until the Games are over. Can France accept this? It is up to the authorities to decide.

To conclude, Jean-Christophe Le Toquin revisits the lack of response from the State :

The executive cannot remain silent while professionals, who work for the public good, are being laid off and remain without answers. I think the minimum dignity and courage is to say why they are letting us die.

The question therefore remains unanswered: given the volume of reports, who will be able to take on the protection of French citizens against illegal content distributed on the Internet?

References:

• Point de Contact - The association
• Disrupt - Platform for stopping the dissemination of intimate content
• Pharos - Official portal for reporting illegal online content

[Cover photo: Mishal Ibrahim]

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