PARIS (AFP) - Four French porn actors have been charged with rape following a string of abuse claims by women in what has been described as the industry's #MeToo moment, judicial sources said on Thursday (Oct 28).

Three of the four actors charged on Oct 22 over videos available for streaming on a French website have been taken into custody, the sources said.

This is the first time porn actors in France have been charged with rape, a year after women began speaking out about the abuse they suffered on amateur as well as professional porn film sets.

Last year, four people were charged with pimping and modern slavery, including two porn film producers.

A source close to the investigation said around 50 abuse victims had been identified.

Prosecutors are also investigating another website, which bills itself as a hub for "amateur" porn videos and has also been the target of abuse claims by women who say they have suffered violence on set.

One actress, who did not want to be named, told Agence France-Presse at the time that a director had forced her into practices that left her in pain for days, and that she had been coerced into unprotected sex with a man who lied about having tested negative for a sexually transmitted disease.

Dozens of women have come forward with abuse stories after feminists began campaigning to lift the taboo around violence in an industry in which women have long been portrayed as consenting to such acts.

France is not the only country whose porn industry is under investigation. In the United States, porn star Ron Jeremy was this year charged with the rape or sexual assault of 21 women and girls.