It is news to nobody that the internet has enabled an unprecedented explosion of pornographic material. There is widespread awareness, too, that much of this is far more violent than used to be the norm in adult sexual publishing and entertainment – with more extreme content understood to drive engagement, as it does across the internet. The UK’s Online Safety Act should block children from accessing disturbing and unsuitable content. It is shameful that age-verification legislation took so long.
The independent report on pornography delivered to ministers this week ought to be the next step in a national effort to deal with the proliferation of online sexual violence. As Peter Kyle, the science secretary, said on Thursday, it is an authoritative piece of work. When he meets its author, Gabby Bertin, next week, he should commit to act on her recommendations. Draft guidance from Ofcom, regarding material currently defined as legal but harmful, is under consultation. But Lady Bertin is right to demand that ministers go further. While clear-sighted about the disproportionate harms to women, she notes, too, the dangers to boys and men, and highlights the prospect that problematic pornography use could be classed as an addiction.
