Youngsters as young as eight are being impacted by porn
Children’s access to porn is causing them to replicate the sexual violence they see and abuse other youngsters, the children’s commissioner for England has said.
Dame Rachel De Souza said that behaviour of kids as young as eight is being impacted by them watching explicit material online.
In a new report, she wrote: “The risk factors behind harmful sexual behaviour and children abusing other children are complex, with pornography being one possible factor among others. Much of the abuse is taking forms which are depicted in pornography.”
According to the BBC, Dame Rachel said: “Children are seeing pornography too young – most of them by the age of 13 but [some are] seeing it at eight or nine.”
Her latest report is based on more than 500 cases on child-on-child sexual abuse provided by one police force and one Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC).
It analysed police interviews between 2012 and 2022 and discovered that in 50 per cent of cases, the transcripts included reference to at least one specific act of sexual violence seen in porn.
A previous survey by the commission of more than 1,000 young people aged 16 to 21 found they first viewed porn on average at the age of 13. One in 10 had seen explicit adult content by nine and 27 per cent had viewed it by age 11.
Most children first see porn on social media, says Dame Rachel. The commissioner – a former head teacher – is calling on tech giants to do more to tackle the problem.
She told Today: “Most children see porn first on Twitter – and then on Snapchat, as well as accessing the porn companies.
“We need decent age verification, through the Online Safety Bill, but these tech companies could be stepping up now to get these images down.”
The Online Safety Bill is currently moving through Parliament. The legislation puts the duty of care on tech firms to protect under-18s from harmful material. Ofcom will have powers to block access or fine companies that fail to do this and executives could even face jail.
The regulator has said it will launch a consultation on protecting children from pornographic material – including on user-generated platforms such as OnlyFans – in the autumn.
“No child should be able to stumble across pornography online; in a world where pornography is a click away for any child,” said Dame Rachel in the report.
A Snapchat spokesperson told BBC News: “Our community guidelines make it clear that we prohibit accounts that promote or distribute pornographic content.
“If we find this content, we remove it immediately.
“We also use machine learning to help us detect it and are working constantly to improve these capabilities.”
Twitter’s guidelines say: “You can’t include graphic content or adult nudity and sexual behaviour within areas that are highly visible on Twitter, including in live video, profile, header, List banner images, or Community cover photos.”
The firm says it also restricts specific sensitive images and videos, such as adult nudity and sexual behaviour, for users who are under 18 or who do not include a birth date on their profile.
