Govt to ensure "higher standard" of age checks on porn sites after CARE campaign

LONDON, 30 June 2023, CARE — Clauses in the Online Safety Bill requiring websites to verify the age of users accessing pornography will be beefed up by the government, it has been announced.

New amendments to the legislation will see services that publish or allow pornography on their sites held "to a new higher standard on the age verification or age estimation tools they use".

Sites will have to ensure that these are "highly effective in establishing whether a user is a child or not". New measures will also hold tech executives personally responsible for keeping children safe.

The move follows a long-running campaign by CARE, which drafted amendments and worked with other charities including Barnardo’s and CEASE to have them accepted by the government.

Ross Hendry, CEO of CARE, commented:

“This announcement by the government is welcome and comes after a long campaign by CARE and other charities concerned about the devastating impact of pornography on children and young people. Ministers have ordered a higher standard in age checks. This will make a real difference.

“Most younger children encounter porn by accident. Robust age verification will help prevent their exposure to content that is disturbing and damaging. For older children, the impact of porn is evident in the alarming rise of sexual harassment in schools. Tackling this issue requires curbing underage access.

“It is possible that social media sites will try to circumvent new measures. The Children’s Commissioner found that most children access pornography for the first time on social media. The Government must ensure that any potential loophole is closed before its online safety regime comes into force.”

Ofcom will bring forward guidance spelling out how sites can meet new standards in age verification and avoid falling foul of the law.

The regulator will issue periodic reports on the effectiveness of age verification, and annual reports on the compliance of porn sites.

Mr Hendry added:

“It is also good to see new reporting requirements on both the effectiveness of age verification and compliance by pornography sites. We trust that Ofcom will take its duty to protect vulnerable children as seriously as parents across the country do. Stronger online protections against harmful content are long overdue. We now hope for swift action.”

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

Christian Action Research and Education (CARE) provides analysis of social policy from a Christian perspective.

It has campaigned for age checks on porn sites for more than a decade and worked closely with parliamentarians on provisions in the Digital Economy Act 2017 that laid the groundwork for the online safety regime.

For more information or to request an interview with a CARE policy expert contact: press@care.org.uk