Online Age ID Needed to Shield Teens From Violent Pornography: Children’s Commissioner

A screen displays a “no under-18s” sign in front of the logo of a pornographic website as regulators consider requiring such sites to ensure they are preventing minors from being exposed to their content. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images)

Violent pornography has a strong influence on children who go on to commit sexual abuse, according to a new report from the Children’s Commissioner, who is calling for age verification as an “urgent priority” in upcoming legislation.

A report released on Tuesday by the Children’s Commissioner for England, Rachel de Souza, found that acts of sexual violence commonly found in pornography were referenced in half of police interview transcripts of child-on-child sex abuse cases.

The Commissioner’s office used statutory powers to, for the first time, collect and analyse just over 500 files on child-on-child sexual abuse.

The report follows research earlier this year which found that almost half of young people believe that girls expect sex to involve physical aggression, and that one in 10 children in England had viewed pornography aged just nine—with half of those surveyed having viewed it by the time they reached the age of 13.

“It is perhaps the work that I have found hardest to publish since becoming Children’s Commissioner,” said de Souza, adding that the findings were “deeply worrying.”

Violence

De Souza said that the report provided “compelling” support for the Online Safety Bill, which is upcoming legislation designed to regulate online spaces. The bill seeks to introduce age verification for pornographic websites and social media platforms to prevent children aged under 18 from accessing such material.

“What this compelling new evidence now shows is that these acts commonly taking place in pornography are also occurring in terrible cases of child sexual abuse and violence,” de Souza said.

“When we combine that with what children and young people themselves tell us about the influence porn has on their behaviour and wellbeing, I believe we have a stronger case than ever for bringing in the most robust protections for children online.

“No child should be able to access or watch pornography. Passing the Online Safety Bill must be a priority if we are to protect children quickly and effectively, but it is also just one part of the essential and urgent work of protecting children from sexual abuse,” she said.

The report noted that children’s relationship with pornography is “unrecognisable from previous generations.”

Online Safety Bill

Previous attempts to regulate pornography and to introduce mandatory age verification requirements—such as the Digital Economy Act of 2017—have failed.

The Online Safety Bill, which is currently undergoing scrutiny in the House of Lords, will force Google, Twitter, Meta (formerly Facebook), and others to abide by a code of conduct overseen by Ofcom—which will also have the power to issue fines to non-compliant companies of up to 10 percent of their annual global turnover.

Activists and MPs, however, have warned that the Bill will have a chilling effect on free speech, and will hand “unprecedented censorship powers” to the government, with some saying it could lead to major free speech violations.

Last year, Toby Young, the general secretary of the Free Speech Union, an organisation dedicated to upholding free speech in Britain, told The Epoch Times by email that he hoped the bill will be a “Children’s Online Safety Bill, with all references to protecting adults from ‘legal but harmful’ content removed.”

Verification Technology

Conservative MP Miriam Cates says the amendments in the Bill must be used to protect children.

In January, Cates and other MPs—including Sir William Cash, Andrea Leadsom, Julian Lewis, Lia Nici, Tim Loughton, Lee Anderson, and former Home Secretary, Priti Patel—also backed an amendment to make tech executives criminally liable for children’s duty-of-care failures.

Cates is also pressing to introduce age-verification technology to stop under-18s accessing unsuitable sites, and social media platforms would be obliged to prohibit misleading adverts.

Cates wrote on her website in December that the “sexual ideas and behaviours we are exposed to in puberty form an ‘erotic imprint’ for life and pornography rewires boys’ brains to believe that ‘normal’ sex involves violence, pain and degrading acts.”

She added that according to some studies, around 44 per cent of boys who view porn say that it gives them ideas about the “kind of sex they want to try,” and strangulation during sex is now “so unexceptional that it is the second most common cause of stroke in young women.”

PA Media contributed to this report.