Age checks needed urgently to protect children from online porn, say charities

A new YouGov poll shows that almost 70% of UK adults agree that extreme pornography that would be illegal to sell on a DVD should also be illegal online. This compares with just 10% who disagree.

Among parents the figure was higher, with 75% of parents and guardians agreeing that extreme pornography should be illegal online compared with 62% of adults who did not look after children. The British Board of Film Classification has backed the call for similar restrictions to apply to pornography sites.

Vanessa Morse, head of Cease UK (Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation), said the fetishisation of abuse needs to be controlled far more stringently.

In December 2020 Mindgeek announced it would be banning unverified video uploads after allegations that it was hosting child abuse videos. The two main credit card companies, Mastercard and Visa, ended their involvement with Pornhub following the allegations.

MindGeek was contacted for comment.