Commissioner: Close loophole allowing children to access online pornography
VPNs can allow users to disguise their location online and Dame Rachel de Souza, in a new report published this week, has said the Government must ensure children are not able to use these tools to avoid the age-check process.
The Government has previously said that while VPNs are legal in the UK for adults, under the Online Safety Act, platforms have a 'clear responsibility to prevent children from bypassing safety protections', including blocking content that promotes VPNs or other workarounds specifically aimed at young users.
Dame Rachel de Souza told BBC Newsnight: 'Of course, we need age verification on VPNs – it's absolutely a loophole that needs closing and that's one of my major recommendations.'
A Government spokesperson said: 'Children have been left to grow up in a lawless online world for too long, bombarded with pornography and harmful content that can scar them for life.
'The Online Safety Act is changing that. Let's be clear: VPNs are legal tools for adults and there are no plans to ban them. But if platforms deliberately push workarounds like VPNs to children, they face tough enforcement and heavy fines. We will not allow corporate interests to come before child safety.
'This is about drawing a line – no more excuses, no more loopholes. Protecting children online must come first.'
Dame Rachel de Souza is Children's Commissioner for England (Aaron Chown/PA)
Dame Rachel's latest report on the issue of online pornography and young people's access to it found that the proportion of children saying they have seen pornography online has risen in the past two years, with most likely to have stumbled upon it accidentally.
Dame Rachel said her research is evidence that harmful content is being presented to children through dangerous algorithms, rather than them seeking it out.
She described the content young people are seeing as 'violent, extreme and degrading' and often illegal, and said her office's findings must be seen as a 'snapshot of what rock bottom looks like'.
The report, a follow-on from research by the Children's Commissioner's office in 2023, found a higher proportion (70%) of people saying they had seen online pornography before turning 18, up from 64% of respondents two years ago.
The other recommendations in her report included that online pornography should be audited to ensure it meets the same content requirements as offline pornography; the depiction of non-fatal strangulation must be 'outlawed comprehensively'; and there should be a recruitment drive for specialist RHSE (Relationships, Health and Sex Education) teachers and support for teachers to deliver the curriculum.
The research for her report was done in May, ahead of new online safety measures coming into effect last month, including age checks aimed at preventing children from accessing pornography and other harmful content.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
a minute ago
- Daily Mail
Secrets of the country's biggest rort: How the NDIS is being exploited to fund drugs, gangs and even holidays - as Aussies expose how easy it is to scam the system
Australians have unleashed a scathing critique of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, claiming it has become the 'biggest rort ever' and a drain on taxpayers. The backlash comes after Health and NDIS Minister Mark Butler announced sweeping reforms, including removing children with mild autism and minor developmental delays from the scheme and scaling it back to its original purpose of supporting those with permanent disabilities. NDIS costs have blown out to $48.5 billion in 2024–25, making it Australia's third most expensive program after state funding and pensions. NDIS head of fraud and integrity, John Dardo, revealed last year that around $2billion is being wrongfully spent on everything from luxury holidays to mortgages and flashy cars. 'Examples just in the last week include a $20,000 holiday, a $10,000 holiday,' he said. 'Fortunately, when we approached them, they agreed to repay the money. But we have other participants who cease contact and refuse to engage.' In one case of fraud, a man on a $480,000 annual plan was receiving $40,000 a month, double what he actually needed for medical care, and using the rest to pay off his mortgage. Mr Dardo said he had even spoken to a participant who met their provider at an ATM to withdraw cash for drugs. 'The provider would withdraw cash and hand it over so she could source illicit substances,' he said. 'We're not talking dozens or hundreds of participants - we're talking significantly higher. These are providers putting people in harm's way just to commoditise them and their plans.' He also revealed organised crime groups had infiltrated the NDIS, by setting up dodgy provider businesses or posing as support coordinators. 'These are not genuine providers, these are people who should not be in business, these are not people that should be allowed near government schemes of any kind and they're in partnership in some cases with health professionals, who we've already taken down or are in the process of taking down.' He said there is little the NDIS can do to remove dodgy providers. 'We have moved participants in some cases from those providers only to have the providers knocking back on their door to actually solicit them. 'They're coming through as a different provider, as a different entity or they're buying different providers or they're establishing other providers or they're coming back as an unregistered provider, so there's a whole series of patterns.' According to Mr Dardo, the sheer scale of taxpayer funding had turned the scheme into a magnet for corruption. 'The scheme was designed with the best intent … What nobody planned on was that such a big pot of money would attract behaviours and risks that weren't there before,' he said. 'It should be easier for the money to flow, but for good things. That requires reform. There are weaknesses in the system that need to be fixed. We cannot prosecute or audit our way out of this.' Many Aussies said the changes were long overdue, sharing personal stories of alleged rorting, waste and abuse. 'I know of people on the NDIS who have no problem whatsoever… they've schemed the system,' one said. Another added: 'NDIS is out of control. I'm a nurse and we see lots of patients. One patient has a budget of $2 million. Yes $2m! How can this be? He has 24-hour care. There are so many like him. Absolutely disgusting.' A registered nurse at home health service Mable labelled the scheme 'an absolute waste of money', claiming clients were requesting 'ridiculous' services. 'One person wants a trained chef to provide home meals. Other people use their money for piano lessons,' they said. Another told of being stunned when a simple shower chair worth $80–$150 was billed to the NDIS for $2,000. 'That says everything about this scheme,' they said. One man said he met two people in their 30s who were both receiving payments for work-related stress despite being 'fit and healthy in every respect now'. 'They get more benefits than those on the age pension, it's a financial rip-off,' he wrote. 'Time for massive changes.' Others demanded means testing after learning of wealthy recipients pocketing taxpayer-funded services. The NDIS is not means tested and does not take into account your income or assets (such as your home or investments) when determining eligibility. One furious commenter claimed their friend's wife, whose husband earns more than $200,000 a year, receives extensive NDIS-funded help. 'This person gets full care at home, servants, maids, drivers, gardeners, cleaners etc plus all of the aids and other props that she doesn't use. Terrible waste of taxpayers' dollars… Meanwhile the TAXPAYER picks up the TAB for it. Disgraceful.' Another, who was referred to the NDIS after becoming unemployed during Covid due to deafness in one ear, said the process felt exploitative. 'All I had to do was source 3 'suppliers', and fill in a couple of forms. I'd be given an annual budget of around $2,000,' they wrote. 'I never completed a single form. The idea felt exploitative and made me uncomfortable.' Others alleged widespread theft by service providers. 'I know one woman who provides services, she literally just books appointments with health care workers for clients via the phone, and charges/earns over $225,000 per year. They need jailing,' one person fumed. Another explained their neighbour's son, meant to receive 24-hour one-on-one care, actually shares a single carer with three other residents. 'Such a scam,' they wrote. 'He's 45 years old and has the mental age of a 4-year-old… all of this coming from the poor taxpayer, and not servicing the needs of the disabled.' A second said: 'The NDIS is a financial sinkhole. Nearly every second person now thinks they're eligible for it, and there's a cottage industry totally vested to ensure it expands outward infinitely.' 'It is out of control and became an industry without boundaries. People need to stop putting their hands up for handouts at every turn,' a third added.
Daily Mail
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
PETER VAN ONSELEN: Labor has lied to us about the NDIS. For years, they told us black is white and up is down. Now, the s*** has hit the fan. And nobody wants to say what it's REALLY going to mean for Aussies
Labor used to treat any talk of trimming the NDIS like it was sacrilege. If a Coalition minister so much as whispered 'tighten eligibility' Labor would shout 'cruelty!' and roll out a Medicare-style scare campaign.
Reuters
31 minutes ago
- Reuters
No plans to bring Formula 1 GP back to Malaysia, sports minister says
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Malaysia has no plans to bring back Formula One due to high sponsorship costs and a tight racing calendar, its sports minister Hannah Yeoh told parliament on Thursday. Malaysia previously hosted a leg of the F1 world championship at its Sepang International Circuit between 1999 and 2017.
