Major wins in regulation of online pornography

The Government has announced a raft of new measures to better protect children and young people from online harms in a major win for campaigners, including CARE.

Amendments passed in the House of Lords to the Crime and Policing Bill mean the Government has agreed to:

• ban depictions of pornographic content that mimics Child Sexual Abuse;
• include step-incest in the ban on incest pornography;
• and commits to implementing Age and Consent checks for all those featured in pornographic content before it is uploaded, as well as providing the right for that consent to be withdrawn at any point

These are monumental steps forward in how online pornography is to be regulated.

Working to support Baroness Bertin, who tabled and championed these amendments in the House of Lords, CARE has been at the forefront in securing yet more changes which will better protect children from the harms associated with online pornography.

This ongoing success builds on the decades long work to ensure consistency and parity between offline and online protections for children from explicit, adult content.

The amendments will be considered in the Commons today before later returning to the Lords for Third Reading and Royal Ascent ahead of the prorogation of Parliament at the end of April.

Ex-MP Caroline Ansell, now Director of Policy and Advocacy at CARE said:

“CARE started campaigning to regulate harmful online pornography in 1994. Over the years we have been told that online porn cannot be regulated and harms removed. That did not deter us in continuing to take action.

"What we have witnessed over the last few years are vital changes that will unquestionably make the internet a safer place for our children and young people.

“This Bill makes it a criminal offence to share the most harmful types of pornography and the Government have agreed to go further and ensure that online pornography will be regulated in the same way as offline content.

"For so long we were told this could not be done.

“But today, a line is being drawn in the sand, people are starting to see what we knew in 1994, online content that fuels the abuse and violent sexualisation of children and women should not be allowed.

"People are starting to realise the harm that has been inflicted on society by freely available and unregulated porn online.

"The fight does not stop here. We will continue to campaign for greater regulation of an industry that harms women and girls across the UK and I urge MPs to back these changes today in the Commons."

ENDS

Notes to editors:

CARE is a social policy charity bringing a Christian perspective to public policy.

For more information or interview requests: james.mildred@care.org.uk / 07717516814

Government press release here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-laws-to-crackdown-on-harmful-pornography