The British Government announced on Tuesday a legislative proposal to force providers of pornographic content on the Internet to verify the age of users, in order to prevent access by minors.
On International Safe Internet Day, the Secretary of State for Digital, Chris Philp, explained that the draft Online Security Law, currently being prepared, will be strengthened with an additional provision that will require websites and other platforms to distribution introduce "solid controls" to ensure that those who use them are at least 18 years old.
The Ministry of Culture, Digital, Sports and Media specifies in a statement that companies will be free to choose the type of control they apply, which could be "secure age verification technology", to verify that they have a credit card and are over 18 years of age, or that an external service confirms the age of the applicant taking information as reference that the government already has, always with respect to data protection regulations.
If the sites do not take action, regulator Ofcom "you can fine them up to 10% of your annual worldwide turnover or block them from being accessible in the UK"says the note, which warns that those responsible for these websites could face criminal charges if they do not cooperate.
The draft Online Security Law, which will be processed in the coming months, is added to the existing Digital Economy Law of 2017, but will expand its scope by spreading "both to commercial providers of pornography and to sites that host user-generated content".
Philp states in the statement that currently "it is too easy for children to access pornography online".
"Parents deserve the peace of mind that their children are protected online"Add.
The ministry notes that there is concern among parents and educators that this access to porn "affects how young people understand relationships, sex and consent"as well as the vision of women.
According to a 2020 study by the British Film Classification Board, cited in this release, at least 51% of 11-13 year olds have viewed pornography in this country, and many of them, some as young as 7 years old, they accidentally run into her on the internet.