Britain Aims To Protect Children From Online Pornography

The British government thinks it is too easy for children to access pornography online and the is bringing in new laws to prevent access for children. Now, the government has announced changes to its forthcoming Online Safety Bill, including new criminal offences and an expanded list of content that Internet companies will need to address. 

In particular, the government plans to make pornography websites carry out age checks, which would require British users to provide data such as their credit card or passport details to prove they are over 18.

Executives from social media platforms  like Facebook and Twitter, who are found responsible for propagating pornographic material, might end up in jail if they do not comply with new online safety laws. 

The Online Safety Bill will be amended  to ensure that commercial porn sites are brought within its scope, updating the draft legislation, which now applies to providers of user-generated pornography. The Bill will now include additional illegal offences, including revenge porn, hate crime, fraud, the sale of illegal drugs or weapons, the promotion or facilitation of suicide, people smuggling and sexual exploitation. 

The aim is to make the platform owners hosting such content more proactive in removing it, rather than waiting for users to request for it to be taken down. The British regulatory authority Ofcom will be given powers to issue fines of up to 10 per cent of annual worldwide turnover to non-compliant sites or block them from being accessible in the UK. 

The Online Safety Bill will force pornography websites to prevent underage access including by using age verification technologies and the legislation will specify a new legal duty requiring all sites that publish pornography to carry out robust checks to ensure their users are 18 years old or over. This could include adults using secure age verification technology to verify that they possess a credit card and are over 18 or having a third-party service confirm their age against government data.

If sites fail to act, the British regulatory authority Ofcom will be able fine them up to 10 per cent of their annual worldwide turnover or can block them from being accessible in the UK. Executives of these websites could also be held criminally liable if they fail to cooperate.

A large amount of pornography is available online with little or no protections to ensure that those accessing it are old enough to do so. There are widespread concerns this is impacting the way young people understand healthy relationships, sex and consent. Half of parents worry that online pornography is giving their children an unrealistic view of sex and a damaging portrayal of women.

Age verification controls are one of the technologies websites may use to prove to Ofcom that they can fulfill their duty of care and prevent children accessing pornography.

Digital Minister Chris Philp said: “It is too easy for children to access pornography online. Parents deserve peace of mind that their children are protected online from seeing things no child should see...  we are now strengthening the Online Safety Bill so it applies to all porn sites to ensure we achieve our aim of making the Internet a safer place for children.” 

The new provision to the proposed legislation will require providers who publish or place pornographic content on their services to prevent children from accessing that content. This will capture commercial providers of pornography as well as the sites that allow user-generated content. Any companies which run such a pornography site which is accessible to people in the UK will be subject to the same strict enforcement measures as other in-scope services. The government is working closely with Ofcom to ensure that online services’ new duties come into force as soon as possible following the short implementation period that will be necessary after the bill’s passage.

The responsibility  to decide how to comply with their new legal duty will lie with the companies themselves and Ofcom is expected to recommend a growing range of age verification technologies available for companies to use that minimise the handling of users’ data. Age verification technologies do not require a full identity check, although users may need to verify their age using identity documents. The measures that companies put in place should not process or store data that is irrelevant to the purpose of checking age.

Solutions that are currently available include checking a user’s age against details that their mobile provider holds, verifying via a credit card check, and other database checks including government held data such as passport data.

Any age verification technologies used must be secure, effective and privacy-preserving. All companies that use or build this technology will be required to adhere to the UK’s strong data protection regulations or face enforcement action from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Online age verification is increasingly common practice in other online sectors, including online gambling and age-restricted sales. In addition, the government says that it is working with industry to develop robust standards for companies to follow when using age assurance tech, which it expects Ofcom to use to oversee the online safety regime.

Gov.UK:     Gov.UK:     OsborneClarke:      E&T:       Guardian:      Latham:     Computer Weekly:     Diginomica:

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