CALLS FOR AGE RESTRICTIONS ONLINE

Child protection groups fear proposed legislation intended to limit the harmful effects of the internet does not go far enough in protecting children and young people from harassment, bullying and pornography.

They are calling on the UK Government to strengthen measures in the proposed Online Safety Bill, covering websites and apps that offer user-generated content such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok and Youtube, as well as search engines like Google.

The legislation will impose a duty of care on these companies to protect users from harmful content, or face fines levied by Ofcom, the communications regulator.

The bill is being scrutinised by a Westminster joint committee, comprising MPS and Lords. However, John Nicholson, the only

Scottish MP on the committee, said action to introduce and rigorously regulate age limits on pornography sites was long overdue.

“The UK Government chose not to enforce age verification checks for pornography websites – something it had promised to introduce,” said Nicholson. “We have urged an explicit duty for all pornography sites to ensure that children cannot access them. There should be punishing financial penalties for those who do not comply.

“Age verification checks would, experts believe, prevent the vast majority of young people who currently access porn sites from

doing so. The onus would be on those sites to introduce stringent checks on those trying to gain access. Sites which fail to verify age should be subject to severe financial penalties.”

Nicholson said self-regulation by social media companies did not work. He added: “Social media companies are often hopelessly slow in taking down harmful and violent content.

“That is why I believe that the

time for self-regulation by social media companies must now be at an end. They are not ‘platforms’ as they try to claim. They are publishers and must be made to behave responsibly.

“They must be subject to criminal sanctions and financial penalties when they do not. They should be made liable when they publish hateful or violent content. Behaviour that is criminal offline must be criminal online.”

The draft legislation has been criticised by campaigners, however, for leaving too many loopholes on a range of issues from preventing children accessing pornography to anonymous abuse.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and other child protection groups claim that encrypted private messaging services represent the “frontline of child abuse”.

They are demanding social media companies and internet firms be made to risk-assess end-to-end encryption plans prior to their implementation.

Andy Burrows, NSPCC head of child safety online policy, said: “Every day, children face the harmful impact of being exposed to violent, bullying and sexual content online, despite such material breaching the community guidelines of most social media sites.

“For too long, platforms like Snapchat and others have not prioritised their duty of care to young users and have failed to invest in proactively identifying harmful content and removing it as quickly as possible. That is why the Online Safety Bill needs to deliver effective, systemic regulation that tackles how children are exposed to harmful content.”

The Reward Foundation campaigns for tough age restrictions to be placed on adult online sites, and CEO Mary Sharpe says it is deeply disappointed the current bill does not go as far as it should.