Free, the French telecom giant that is majority owned by billionaire Xavier Niel, is not doing enough to tackle child sexual abuse imagery on its servers, according to The Canadian Centre for Child Protection. The nonprofit group alleges that nearly half of the Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) discovered during a two-year investigation it conducted was “physically hosted” and downloaded using Free’s telecom services.
The research report, released Wednesday, looked at the availability of child sexual abuse material and the role of electronic service providers in spreading it, and found that Free was used by those “hosting and sharing” around 1.1 million images or video files of alleged CSAM or harmful-abusive content between 2018 and 2020.
In the report, titled Project Arachnid, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection says that those intent on distributing CSAM “have taken advantage of Free’s hosting service to anonymously store media online, and then disseminate the direct download link on forums across the internet.”
There is no indication at this time that Free or majority owner Xavier Niel who holds over 70% of parent group Iliad were aware of the issue. Xavier Niel and Iliad have not offered a response to the allegations, or answered Forbes’ questions after having been alerted to the report this morning.
The Battle To Remove CSAM
French telecom and Internet company Iliad founder, Xavier Niel
Getty ImagesThe Canadian Centre for Child Protection has taken on the battle to remove CSAM from the internet by specifically targeting the web service infrastructure onto which it is uploaded, using a web platform designed to detect known images and immediately issue removal notices to electronic service providers (ESPs). Project Arachnid does not claim to have uncovered the total universe of CSAM on the internet. The search uses 'web crawlers’ or bots, similar to small search engines, to access content located at URLs on the clear and dark web. When images are found they are compared to a database of previously verified media. If the system detects a match–a recognized CSAM image–a takedown notice is automatically sent requesting its removal. Over the past two years, the system has found more than 5.4 million CSAM images. However, it’s slow progress and the group is facing a backlog of more than 32.5 million suspect media that have yet to be assessed.
Free
The report points to Free, which is publicly traded through parent group Iliad on the Euronext Paris, as the “single” internet provider responsible for “a very significant volume” of child abuse imagery, and one that is not doing enough to address the wider issue. The report adds that, during its investigation, 48% of all child abuse imagery media found during the two years of its investigation (images and videos) are both “linked” and physically hosted on Free’s file hosting service.
Specifically, the report found that by using Tor-based chat forums (a part of the so-called Dark Web) and direct downloads rather than traditional webpages, “an unknown number of anonymous users are able to view the direct download links and passwords required to unlock and access the content,” the report says. “The total known availability of CSAM and harmful-abusive images or videos accessible through Free’s hosting service triggered more than 2.7 million flags, according to the report.
Free is one of the most popular internet service providers in France, offering internet, TV and landline services to homes, plus its own mobile phone network. In its first quarter 2021 results Free reported that 3 million French homes currently subscribe to its Fiber Free broadband. In March this year Iliad Group posted consolidated revenues for 2020 up 10.1% to $7.15 billion and profits of $511 million. The group announced in its annual report that the dividend will increase to $3.66 per share.
Xavier Niel, CEO of Illiad, Bernard Arnault, CEO of the LVMH group, and Frédéric Arnault
Getty ImagesXavier Niel founded the business in 1996, three years after starting France’s first internet provider, WorldNet. Forbes estimates his net worth to be $8.4 billion, thanks largely to his stake in Iliad.
Warning
The results of this investigation do not come entirely out of the blue for Niel and Iliad’s leadership team who have been alerted to problematic content–although not CSAM–on their service in the past. In October 2007, Free’s file hosting service–dl.free.fr–faced criticism from France’s then-Minister of Culture for allowing “users to anonymously upload large volumes of pirated material”–namely pirated movies and music–”on dl.free.fr.” News stories in 2007 did not detail Iliad’s response and they have not added further comment today.
The issue has been discussed online in France at least once before the publication of the investigation today. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection directed Forbes to a Reddit post from October 2019 on a general French interest discussion forum, which claimed that Free’s file hosting site dl.free.fr “has become the # 1 choice” in the “exchange of child pornography content online.”
A spokesperson for The Canadian Centre for Child Protection told Forbes that Free has a “legal and moral responsibility” to ensure its services are not being misused to harm children, adding that the data shows, “the service they operate is being used to make a large volume of harmful images available on the internet.”
The European Commission introduced the interim e-Privacy regulation in September 2020 obliging online companies to actively detect and remove child sexual abuse online.
Billionaire Xavier Niel’s Telecom Giant Free Hosted 48% Of Child Sex Abuse Imagery Found During Two-Year Investigation, Says Nonprofit Group - Forbes
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