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On 5 April 2019, the Conseil d’Etat (Council of State) issued an interesting decision concerning the age rating of a documentary film containing violent images. Previously, the company that produced the documentary “Salafistes” had asked the administrative court, on the grounds of misuse of power, to annul the Minister of Culture’s decision to grant the film an “18” certificate, at the same time ordering that the following warning be given: “This film contains extremely violent and intolerant language and images that viewers may find upsetting”. The administrative court had overturned that decision,...

The criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation has issued an important decision concerning the use of hyperlinks to criminally punishable content - in this case, a video. The case was brought after a police officer in charge of a regional département’s public security lodged a claim for damages after discovering a video containing death threats against him on the Internet. Under Article 433-3(1) and (4) of the Penal Code, the penalty for making such threats is three years’ imprisonment and a fine of EUR 45,000. The defendant, who had created a direct link to the disputed video on his own website,...

At the international “Series Mania” festival held in Lille from 22 until 30 March 2019, Frédérique Bredin, President of France’s National Centre of Cinematography and the Moving Image (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée - CNC), announced the first measures in the “Series Plan” initiated last year by the then Minister for Culture. “We have to help our TV series acquire an industrial logic, making it easier to pass from one season to the next. It’s what audiences expect,” she said. The first section of the plan includes three key measures, which would only apply to original TV series. The...

Laetitia Avia (MP for Paris, REM party) has tabled a bill to “combat online hate” which should be examined within the coming weeks. The wording is in line with the desire that Emmanuel Macron has expressed to oblige all the parties concerned (platforms, Internet users, and Internet access providers) to face up to their responsibilities in the fight against hate on the Internet. As noted in the explanatory statement to the bill, the current legal provisions governing online hatred are mainly those contained in the Law on confidence in the digital economy (Loi pour la confiance dans l’économie numérique...

In 2016, the Minister of Culture awarded a “12” rating without a separate warning for the original subtitled version of the animated film “Sausage Party”. The “Juristes pour l’enfance” association asked the Paris Administrative Court to suspend this decision on the grounds of misuse of power, arguing that the film should have carried a “16” rating. The court refused this request, as did the relevant administrative appeal court. The association then appealed to the Conseil d’État (Council of State). In a judgment of 4 March 2019,...