A large number of children in the UK have claimed to have accessed pornography online, with around one in ten children as young as 9 saying they have accessed explicit material, according to research by Dame Rachel De Souza, the UK Children’s Commissioner.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced this week that his government would be reviewing the nation’s pornography laws to prevent children from accessing it as well as cracking down on potential abuse, the Telegraph reports.
“There are currently different regimes that address the publication and distribution of commercial pornographic material offline, such as videos, and online,” the Prime Minister’s statement said, and added, “The Government wants to ensure any pornography legislation and regulation operates consistently for all pornographic content.”
The announcement also stated that the government would work to provide children with information regarding the harms of pornography as well saying, “This will make sure that illegal and harmful content, such as that which features child sexual abuse and exploitation, or where adults are being exploited, is robustly dealt with.”
Technology Minister Peter Scully commented on the review saying, “Our Pornography Review will look closely at the laws and regulations relating to offline and online content, informing our next steps in tackling the heinous crimes of exploitation and abuse, wherever it occurs.”
Earlier this year, Conservative MPs and Lords campaigned to toughen laws around pornography and other harmful content online and on social media platforms.
MP Miriam Cates, one of the Tories involved in the campaign and a member of the New Conservatives group, wrote an article for the Telegraph in January pointing out that as many as 1.4 million children access pornography in the UK each month.
Cates argued for making social media managers responsible for breaching child safety duties and called for prison sentences of up to two years for senior managers or directors.
The UK is not the only country to recently tighten laws regarding access to pornography online. Last year, the French government passed a law aimed at protecting children by calling for the implementation of an age verification system to access adult material using a system that would also allow for the user to remain anonymous.
Part of the law also requires that all digital devices sold in France come with parental controls by default.
Several states in the United States have also adopted age verification laws for pornography, leading to an outcry from the popular porn website Pornhub, which called on supporters to contact their local representatives and express their opposition.
However, it is noted that the campaign is unlikely to achieve anything as the laws have already been passed in Utah, Virginia, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
In May, Pornhub withdrew from Utah in protest over the state’s verification law and pulled out of Virginia last week, shutting down access to the website for residents of the two states.
Pornographic performer Cherie DeVille released a statement on Pornhub saying, “While safety and compliance are at the forefront of our mission, giving your ID card every time you want to visit an adult platform is not the most effective solution for protecting our users, and in fact, will put children and your privacy at risk.”
Pornhub has been the subject of controversy in recent years after allegations emerged that the platform had hosted child abuse material. In 2021, Pornhub was sued by over 30 women who alleged the Canadian company profited from videos posted without their consent, with some of the material containing child abuse.
According to Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), however, many of the reports they receive regarding child abuse on the platform did not meet the legal threshold to bring formal charges as investigators struggle to determine the age of those in videos if they are unable to identify them.
