More young people are watching porn, mostly daily

Research at City is shining a light on the complexity of the government’s task as it tries to clamp down on under-18s accessing pornography.

 

The challenge of restricting under-18s’ access to pornography has increased significantly in recent years, with governments finding it a huge challenge to come up with technological solutions to the astonishing ease with which a person of any age can view pornography online.

 

A surge in the popularity of ‘YouTube-style’ pornography websites, offering a vast catalogue of pornographic material, has made it easier than ever for under-18s to view pornography. However, the UK government recently delayed a new Online Harms Bill because it did not sufficiently encompass social media websites – the concern being that teens were consistently seeing pornography there too.

 

A new survey of 16- and 17-year-olds by City’s Department of Journalism suggests the government were right to be concerned about social media, yet also illustrates the size of the government’s task in preventing teens from seeing pornography online.

 

The study, by Honorary Senior Research Fellow Professor Neil Thurman, which was discussed on BBC News at Ten during May, found that 78 per cent of respondents had seen online pornography on various platforms, and that their exposure was relatively recent. Although respondents had viewed pornography an average of six days ago, it was most common for them to have already viewed it on the day of the survey.

 

The results showed that more (63 per cent) had seen pornography on social media platforms than on pornographic websites (47 per cent). However, pornography was much more recently viewed on pornographic websites than on social media.

 

Perhaps surprisingly, the study, which was published in the international peer-reviewed journal, Policy & Internet, found that 46 per cent of 16- and 17-year-olds had used a virtual private network (VPN) or Tor browser. A statistic that will alarm those pushing for country-specific age verification systems as VPNs allow users to appear to be based in another country.

 

Professor Thurman, says: “Until now, there was scant evidence on which media platforms and technologies children use to access pornography, and to what extent this new survey fills that gap.

 

“The results suggest that the UK government was right to target social media platforms in its latest proposals. However, that 16- and 17-year-old users spend an average of more than two hours a month on dedicated pornography sites shows how important the regulation of such sites remains.

 

The UK government’s Online Harms White Paper is designed to do what Part 3 of its 2017 Digital Economy Act (which was never implemented) did not – i.e., clamp down on social media platforms and search engines.

 

However, the extent to which 16- and 17-year-olds are familiar with VPNs makes clear that any regulation will not be a magic bullet.

 

Professor Thurman says: “Our finding that 46 per cent of 16- and 17-year-olds had used a VPN or Tor browser adds weight to concerns that restrictions on legal internet pornography – such as age verification checks – imposed by a single country may be circumvented by those the restrictions are designed to protect.

 

“Measures taken in individual jurisdictions, or that focus on only some media platforms, are unlikely to reduce children’s exposure to online pornography as much as some hope.”

 

As City’s research clearly illustrates, governments both at home and overseas have a long way to go in their ambitions to prevent children from viewing pornography.