On Safer Internet Day 2022, the UK Government said it would strengthen the Online Safety Bill to bring all pornographic websites into scope. A new legal requirement will mean porn sites will have to implement robust age controls to stop under 18s accessing the content.

It’s something CARE’s been campaigning for and when combined with measures already in the draft Bill, to tackle user-generated porn, especially on social media, the overall package will offer children stronger safeguards.

Now, parents and grandparents have expressed their relief at the announcement.

“I want my granddaughter to enjoy her teenage years, not become the victim of her or someone’s else’s addiction,” said Alan. He also warned there’s no time for complacency until age checks are properly implemented.

Gloria said although her children are grown up, she does ‘worry so much for children these days, with the huge exposure to pornography that they have. Anything that can be done to lessen this is a much-needed step.”

Although the new checks probably won’t be in force until 2024 at the earliest, the proposed change at least means future generations will be better protected.

Susie, a Mum with three teenage children said she was very aware “of the danger of easy access to porn, so I’m thankful for all who have worked up front and behind the scenes to get this agreement for age checks.”

Another Mum, Chrissy, who has a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son said she was so grateful that she can have hope that as they start to engage with the digital world, they can be protected from pornographic content. She said “I know many other parents of young children, would be devastated if, having got this far, age checks did not become legally mandatory for porn sites. Our thanks to CARE and others who have been campaigning on this issue.”

Another parent, Paul, who has two young children also expressed his support for age checks. He said “this safeguard is hugely important to me, but I also don’t see how anyone could objectively argue against this being in the interests of all society.”

Paul is right – and polling by CARE and others has highlighted how popular this move by the Government is with the public. In June 2021, a Savanta ComRes poll for CARE showed that more than 80% of adults support age checks.

As much as anything else, age checks on online porn is trying to make sure children as well protected from explicit content online as they are offline. Angela said this: “We go to extreme lengths to ensure children’s physical safety, but protection of their minds is also important.” Given the importance of protecting young people, we could not agree more.

There are many reasons CARE supports age verification. One of them is the evidence that highlights how young children are stumbling across porn online accidently. The internet is like the Wild West and the easy access to online porn makes it unsurprising that more than half of 11–13-year-old have already viewed porn at some point.

One parent, David, said that age checks are "a major step forward as we know that it’s all too easy for people, especially curious young people, to become addicted for such material. We have six grandchildren, and we are concerned for them.” That’s exactly the point. Young people presently find it too easy to access online pornography. No-one is trying to pretend age checks are a silver bullet, but they will help.

More and more evidence also shows the damage watching porn has on young people. Jaqueline said, “porn sites encourage entirely the bad attituded and behaviors we want to see changed and that certainly our young people should be protected from this needs to be strictly enforced.”

That’s the new challenge – to make sure that this time, unlike 2019 when the Government dropped age checks altogether, age verification gets across the line. The aim is to get it in place as soon as possible.

The Government should report back on further changes to its Online Safety Bill. Then, it will be formally introduced into Parliament for First Reading.

MPs and then Peers will debate the various parts of the Bill and we're expecting it will pass in a few years time.

The hope is to persuade the Government to implement the age checks as soon as possible. Your support will be vital to get this across the line.