The debate: Will the new rules for pornography sites do more harm than good?
Children in the UK will soon be better protected from viewing pornography - or, at least that鈥檚 the theory.
From 25 July, a new regulation in the UK will force adult websites to enact more robust age verification measures. Until now, a user simply had to click a button affirming they are over 18 to access some sites but the new regulation means people may have to send a photograph of their ID, credit card details or a photograph of themselves. Campaigners call these measures 鈥渁ge gates鈥�.
But is verification a good idea, or could it have even darker consequences? 蜜芽传媒 InDepth invited three people with strong views on this issue to discuss it further. Here is a shortened version of their debate, which delves into their different perspectives - and their fears.
Meet the participants
THE DEBATE
Should pornography websites be forced to age-verify users?
I don鈥檛 think we鈥檇 be comfortable with children wandering in and out of sex shops - but currently far worse is happening. Children have unfettered access to an almost-infinite supply of hardcore pornography. And I believe it鈥檚 having a devastating effect.
I have concerns with the age assurance process - by sending a sensitive ID document, such as a driving licence or passport, users are exposing themselves to new risks [like] exploitation by cyber criminals or blackmail over their viewing habits.
Plus there鈥檚 the risk that children will share porn using memory sticks or peer to peer file sharing sites and won鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e downloading. Or, worse, what if they go onto the dark web and expose themselves to even more harmful content?
I think the new regulations are a good thing. But I鈥榙 like to see broader regulation that takes account of the harms that pornography does to adults, too.
From personal experience - you can definitely tell when someone watches a lot of porn. I believe they鈥檙e more likely to sexualise women - and they do that very openly.
Could 鈥榓ge gates鈥� really send young people to darker, more dangerous corners of the internet, as James says?
I was first exposed to porn via a pile of magazines I found in the woods. I don鈥檛 think age gates will completely get rid of those risks that young people face.
But evidence from public health shows that if you make something more difficult, fewer people do it. When it comes to online pornography, there might be a delay - but it will start to change culture. Besides, we don鈥檛 worry about the law banning cigarettes for children, for fear they might turn to harder drugs. The law has an important role in designating what is safe and harmful.
And to James鈥檚 point: today's online porn is a world away from dirty magazines. It鈥檚 changed almost beyond recognition - into something that is misogynistic, violent, sexist.
I鈥檇 be interested, Naomi, if you think the age-assurance industry (the third party companies that will check identity documents for pornography websites) should be regulated?
Yes, definitely - age verification providers should be regulated.
Because at the moment, it isn鈥檛. For example, gay dating app Grindr has turned on age verification and users don鈥檛 get a choice over which age-assurance provider they use. There might be a friendly, UK-based provider with good privacy protections but instead UK users have to send their ID to a US company. If there鈥檚 a data breach, that could potentially out LGBTQ people who might have been in the closet.
But pornography websites have their own problems here. One study* showed that 93% of them pass on personal data to third parties, often without consent. There are so many cybersecurity risks associated with this industry.
Yes, the porn industry鈥檚 data collection is atrocious.
But some of those big websites have slowly started to get better at taking down harmful content and checking the ages of sex workers. If people start sharing content in less regulated spaces, you might find that some content becomes even worse. Like, in the early internet, a user would be exposed to bestiality porn on big mainstream sites. That isn鈥檛 the case anymore.
This assumes that all pornography can be harmful. How does the rise of so-called 鈥榚thical鈥� and 鈥榝eminist鈥� pornography fit into the debate?
I think when a person is turned into an object that purely exists for the gratification of men, violence is kind of inevitable, because she is there to be used and abused. You鈥檙e treating her as an other, as a thing.
Take something like audio porn - that is a different way of approaching things because there are no actors involved.
I鈥檝e heard about feminist porn too. It鈥檚 potentially an alternative but unlikely to take off. In the current industry, a bunch of young, vulnerable, mainly women don鈥檛 really know what they鈥檙e getting themselves into. A lot of them have been trafficked, or have been pressured into the industry because they don鈥檛 have enough money.
Ethical porn is an idea that鈥檚 floated around a lot, and it exists in the industry - but it鈥檚 a tiny percentage of market share. And ultimately algorithms push people to more extreme, violent content. We see these 鈥榚scalation pathways鈥�: the younger the age of exposure, the more likely young men are to be aroused by violent, hardcore content.
There has been talk about how people may find other ways to access porn, like via the dark web. But surely that requires tech skills - which is a barrier?
I don鈥檛 personally know how to access the dark web. But there is always the potential that people who are desperate to access the content will find ways to do it - that鈥檚 human nature.
I use the analogy of a young person trying to get into a nightclub and there鈥檚 an age gate on the door. But in this instance, there鈥檚 a dark alleyway just around the side, and a big gaping hole in the wall of the nightclub. To get into the club that way, they have to go past dodgy characters that are hanging out there, drinking, hurling abuse.
But I still think for the sake of changing culture, age gating is necessary. It鈥檚 a very slow process, but if you鈥檝e got young people who鈥檝e never been able to access pornography, then at a certain point that loop will fade away.
I worry that it will actually teach young people deception, how to get around things without talking to adults - and encourage a dishonest approach to their porn-viewing habits.
I think the law is important - it鈥檚 very important to have this principle based on the evidence of harm. However, we need to think very carefully about how we implement age verification.
We鈥檙e all in agreement about that.
To raise another point, there鈥檚 also a risk of pornography websites using people鈥檚 personal details for commercial purposes. If you visit a porn site and you allow the porn company itself to do age verification by sending your ID, they鈥檝e now got your name, your email, your phone number.
You all think it鈥檚 bad for teenagers to watch pornography, you just have different ideas for how you鈥檇 stop them doing it. So to play devil鈥檚 advocate, is it possible that this is a moral panic?
It鈥檚 an interesting question. I remember growing up in the 1990s and watching Terminator 2, which was rated 15, when I was underage with my friend. His mum let him watch the whole film, which was about violent robots killing each other. But the one bit he wasn鈥檛 allowed to watch was the sex scene; he had to turn away from the screen. There鈥檚 something interesting about what we consider the bigger risk: violence or sex.
I wish it was a moral panic but all the evidence suggests otherwise. Rape culture is endemic in our schools and universities. And there is a measurable correlation between porn consumption - particularly at a young age - and harmful sexual attitudes and behaviours.
And it鈥檚 important to note that pornography is not sex - it鈥檚 a harmful commodity. Sexual curiosity in young people is completely natural, but there鈥檚 nothing natural about the porn industry.
As a teenager I accessed pornography, and I鈥檓 a happily married, well-adjusted person. Millions of adults view it and don鈥檛 have those abhorrent views towards women. A lot of the harms come from the way the platforms push algorithms. We should tackle that. But we should also allow people freedom of expression. After all, sexual images have been around since cave paintings.
By Luke Mintz and Text Formats. Illustrator: Jodi Lai
