Links between pornography and child sexual abuse cases have increasingly become apparent after a series of reports have been released by England’s Children’s Commissioner, Rachel de Souza.

This further evidence of the harms of pornography, de Souza believes, is more proof that stronger provisions need to be introduced to the Online Safety Bill in order to better protect children from online harms.

The reports showed that the average age at which young people had viewed pornography was 13 years old. One in 10 of 16-21 year olds surveyed had watched pornography by the age of nine years old.

The Children’s Commissioner’s Office (CCO) analysed hundreds of police interview transcripts from child sexual abuse cases and found in 50% of cases, pornography and specific acts of sexual violence were cited, with the most common category being physical aggression seen in pornographic content, such as strangulation, choking or slapping.

The report from the CCO found that interviews with the children revealed their consumption of pornography was linked to the acts of harm they caused to other children.

Some victims stated their abuser made references to “things he’d seen on porn”, or that they were made to feel like “porn-stars”.

The Online Safety Bill requires pornography sites to ensure children do not access their content, through age checking measures.

CARE is calling for these checks to be more robust and for harms to children to be at the forefront of the Bill. Last week the government adopted these recommendations with changes to the Bill promised at report stage.

Amendments to the Bill are currently being debated in the House of Lords and are due to become law by the end of the year.