Child exposure to pornography a major concern for public

Children being exposed to pornography is a major concern among Brits, a study by Ofcom has found.

A research project by the regulator examined what people in the UK consider to be "potential online harms".

The potential harms cited most regularly by adults included bullying, abusive behaviour and threats (cited by 5 in 10 adults), sexual or pornographic content (4 in 10) and violent or disturbing content (4 in 10).

Children also cited these concerns with five in ten 12-15-year-olds mentioning bullying, abuse and threats, 3 in 10 mentioning sexual or pornographic content, and 3 in 10 mentioning violent or distubing content.

The research follows the publication of the UK Government's Online Safety Bill, which is designed to tackle various "harms" in the online world.

CARE has campaigned for stronger curbs on online porn for many years and has welcomed a move to stop kids accessing porn sites under the government's plans.

When the new law comes into force, all commercial porn sites will be required to verify the age of users through age verification or face huge fines.

Speaking in February, CEO CARE's CEO Ross Hendry said age verification is "long overdue" and urged Ministers to enact the safeguard now, as an "interim" measure.

The government can enact legislation from 2015 to allow this to happen within a matter of months, rather than the years required to pass the online safety regime.

Mr Hendry said:

“Age checks on porn sites should have been in place years ago. Questions have been asked about why this didn’t happen. There are also concerns that it may be some time – perhaps years – before the online safety regime is ready. Children will remain unprotected until it is. We would ask UK Ministers to implement measures to protect kids from pornography in the interim.”