The fight to protect our children from pornography must go on

Telegraph

a day ago

A teenager sits on his bed, his mobile phone in his hands. He's chatting with his friend, exchanging quickfire messages, when something pops up on his screen he doesn't recognise. He clicks on it, curious. He's never seen anything like it before. Are those real people? What's happening to that woman? He clicks again, disturbed but fascinated. And again. And again. More images, graphic, extreme, and violent, fill his screen.
He's scared, but he knows his friend will ask him what he thought. He doesn't want to look silly. His friend says this is what women expect of men. So, he keeps watching, repulsed – but irreversibly hooked.
Just a few months ago, that depressing scene was not a figment of the imagination. It was the dark reality of children spending time online – more than half of whom have reported seeing pornography accidentally. The situation was at rock bottom.
The job of creating a safer online world is only just beginning in earnest, with the Online Safety Act taking effect last month – the biggest step change in the interests of child safety since the internet began. For some children, the change already comes too late. they have grown up online, and for years they have been telling decision makers, the adults in charge, about what they are seeing, how it makes them feel and how hard it is to get rid of. Collectively, we as a society owe them an apology. We failed to get a grip on the risks, leaving an entire generation of children to grow up with the full spectrum of the internet available to them – but without any protection.
That is the generation represented in new research on children's exposure to pornography. 16 to 21-year-olds, those entering adulthood, who have witnessed some of the worst of human nature played out at the swipe of a screen. Most of them had seen content containing scenes of rape, or violent acts like strangulation depicted in pornography while they were still children. More often than not, they have not been seeking it. Nearly half of them (44 per cent) agreed with the statement 'girls may say no at first but can be persuaded to have sex'. Girls were more likely to agree with it than boys were.
How can we even begin to imagine the long-term impact of this extreme sexual violence being so easily accessible?
Some have tried to dismiss these very real dangers online as 'just a bit of fun'. They say pornography isn't real. It's actors, acting. It's a way of making money. But to the 11-year-old who stumbles across it, it can be life-altering. It could be the difference between that child becoming an adult surrounded by respectful, loving relationships – or, in the worst possible cases, not making it to adulthood at all.
If ever we needed the evidence to confidently call out critics of online regulation, it is this: our children are telling us they are so influenced by things they were able to see online freely, that it has changed how they think about each other.
If we are serious about getting a grip on the scourge of violence against women and girls – and protecting our children from ideas that present this as acceptable, or even as entertainment – we must start here. Even the best education, the closest thing we have to a silver bullet, can only go so far in countering these dangerous, damaging views if we don't act.
There is a generation of parents and carers anxious and overwhelmed by the burden of imposing boundaries on technology they don't fully understand – some of whom may have experienced the absolute worst consequences of a lawless internet. It is them, and their children, who must be at the heart of this continued mission. We owe it to them – and we are on their side by making it easier for them to be more protected than ever before.
The Online Safety Act will make it extremely difficult for that content to make its way into their feeds.
The new laws introduced last month now require tech platforms to withhold harmful content from children on their sites, including pornography. Users must now provide proof they are over 18, and sites must make it easier for them to report content, crucially without having to watch it first if it appears on their feed.
Our shared mission is for no child to ever lose themselves, or any of their precious childhood, to the grip of harmful things online.
Early signs give us both confidence that this mission is on target. Over 6,000 websites are now using age verification technology. Traffic to the biggest pornography sites dropped sharply in the days following the rule change and Ofcom acted quickly to begin enforcement action against sites not complying.
We accept that in a tech environment that innovates so rapidly, this is never job done. There needs to be a lot of flexibility in this so that we can adapt. But we will also need to be on our toes; as a government, as regulators, and as advocates for children.
Bold change of this scale is not always easy nor comfortable. But society has always protected children from harms in the offline world, from the introduction of seatbelts to limits on the sale of alcohol and tobacco.
Our children deserve to grow up with curiosity and confidence, not fear and manipulation. Just as past generations fought new battles to keep their children safe, this is ours. The Online Safety Act is not the end of that fight but the beginning - a foundation to build on as risks evolve. No one can reasonably argue against keeping children safe online, just as we do offline. That is why we make no apology for putting young people's safety first.