French bill outlaws pro-anorexia websites

by Tironius, created Saturday, April 19, 2008, with permalink

France does not support the idea of free speech in the way we know.

Original article: “French bill outlaws pro-anorexia websites”

People behind anorexia-promoting websites could be jailed in France under a law that has been passed by one of the country’s two houses of parliament.

Lower house the French National Assembly adopted a bill aimed at criminalising “incitement to excessive thinness by publicising of any kind”. The bill carries a penalty of up to three years in jail and a fine of €45,000.

A number of websites publish advice and encouragement to people, mostly young women, who want to be dangerously thin. These are targetted by the French bill in order to protect the 40,000 anorexics living in France.

The law is aimed at sites which provoke a person to excessive weight loss by encouraging prolonged restriction of food, risking death or directly compromising the person’s health.

Labels: Crime