Porn sites are required to bring age verification to protect children

Porn websites should introduce age verification tools as soon as possible to better protect children from harmful content, says an open letter from child safety groups. A letter published by the children’s charity Barnardo’s calls on commercial porn sites to change their content standards to align with the British Film Classification Board’s classification of violent and pornographic content.

The letter, signed by more than a dozen security organizations, states that many porn sites reflect practices that meet the Criminal Code’s definition of sexual harassment and will make it illegal to buy DVDs or Blu-ray discs in the UK. The same standards should apply to the Internet. It comes in an online safety bill in Parliament that introduces laws requiring pornographic content on host sites to undergo age checks, but Barnardo warned that it could take up to three years, prompting him and other groups to voluntarily block sites that verify your age. At the earliest. possible.

A YouGov survey commissioned by Barnardo’s and published in an open letter found that 69% of UK adults agree that illegal extremist pornography on DVD should also be illegal online. Lynne Berry, CEO of Barnardo, said: “Every day children see harmful pornography on the Internet and we must act now to protect them.

The government has rightly pledged to pass new laws, but it could take three years for them to come into effect, and in the meantime millions of children could view harmful content millions of times, with serious consequences for their mental health and understanding. Consent and their perception of healthy relationships.

“Therefore, as a group of children and youth advocacy organisations, we urge owners of major commercial porn sites to take action by introducing age-appropriate measures now so that this becomes a legal requirement.