In an increasingly digital world, protecting children from online harms is one of the great challenges of our time. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has only made this challenge greater, as more young people are going online and being exposed to online porn.
To help better protect children online, historic legislation was passed in 2017 by MPs and Peers which included age verification checks to prevent under 18s from seeing online porn. Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act would also have introduced an independent regulator with powers to challenge pornographic websites for showing the most extreme, violent forms of pornography.
But, in October 2019, the plans were suddenly dropped after numerous delays. Instead, the Government said it would introduce a new Online Harms Bill which, realistically, will not be ready and implemented until 2023 or possibly later still. Meanwhile, our children and young people remain exposed to online porn.
That's why we need your help. We're asking you to take just 5 minutes to contact your MP.
Children as young as seven are viewing pornography
A major study by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) showed that more than half of 11-13 year olds had seen pornography at some point, while 66% of 14-15 year olds said the same. In fact, children as young as seven are viewing porn online.
There's also a lot of good evidence suggesting that exposure to porn is harmful to children and can have a damaging impact on their views of sex and relationships. The same polling also shows 83% of parents support age-verification controls.
Will you stand with us and ask your MP to put pressure on the Government to introduce age checks?
The regulations to introduce age verification still exist. The independent regulator to enforce age checks and crack down on 'extreme pornography' is also ready.
The Government just needs to re-designate the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to this role, and set an implementation date for age verification, and the UK could take a giant leap forward when it comes to online safety. We need your help to put as much pressure as possible on the Government to make this happen.
The only thing worse than doing nothing about online safety is having world-leading legislation to confront it and yet not bothering to use it.
Please take just 5 minutes to contact your MP and ask them to pressurise the Government to implement age verification on online porn.
To help you contact your MP, we've put together some helpful points you may wish to make. As always, it's far more effective if you use your own words.
Points to make:
- Express concern that children are increasingly exposed to pornography online, that in most cases children stumble across it accidentally, and that the evidence suggests it negatively shapes their attitudes towards sex and relationships in the long term.
- Point out that statutory age-verification checks on pornographic web sites were required as part of the Digital Economy Act, which Parliament passed in April 2017 and which should have been implemented in 2018.
- Point out that it treats the electorate with contempt to not only delay implementing this headline legislation, but to then refuse to implement it at all in favour of an Online Harms Bill, which has not even been published, let alone passed by Parliament.
- If your MP is a Conservative, remind them that introducing age verification was a 2015 Manifesto commitment.
- Say that the only thing worse than doing nothing about online safety is having world-leading legislation to confront it and yet not bothering to use it.
- Please write to your MP today and ask them to now press the Government to immediately re-designate the BBFC's as the regulator and set an implementation date for Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act of no later than October of this year.
