Britain’s porn ban is SCRAPPED: Plans to make users prove they are over 18 to view adult content are scrapped amid backlash from websites and privacy fears
- Nicky Morgan said new law forcing people to prove their age would be scrapped
- The legislation had been delayed twice after questions about effectiveness
- Ms Morgan says commitment to protecting children online ‘is unwavering’
Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan announced that a new law forcing people to prove they are 18 or over to access content would not be going ahead
Plans to introduce the world’s first online porn law designed to stop children accessing pictures and videos were shelved by the government today.
Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan announced that a new law forcing people to prove they are 18 or over to access content would not be going ahead.
The legislation had already been delayed twice, including in July, after organisations including the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) questioned how effective it would be.
In a written statement to MPs today Ms Morgan said the Government ‘will not be commencing Part Three of the Digital Economy Act 2017 concerning age verification for online pornography’.
‘The Digital Economy Act objectives will therefore be delivered through our proposed online harms regulatory regime.’ she wrote.
‘This course of action will give the regulator discretion on the most effective means for companies to meet their duty of care.’
Shadow culture secretary Tom Watson said: ‘Mistakes, mishaps and multiple delays have characterised this Government’s attempts to introduce Age Verification.
Under the scheme adult websites would have had to provide their own verification software, which would then have to meet standards and checks carried out by the British Board of Film Classification (file image posed by models)
Age restrictions on viewing adult videos and images, the first in the world, were announced by then Digital Minister Margot James in April
‘They’ve now dropped the pretence and admitted they aren’t going to implement it after all.
‘This whole process has been a shambles, and the Government must declare how much public money has been spent on this failed policy. The new online harms regulation must not meet the same fate.
‘The Government have a moral duty to protect children, young people and other vulnerable groups at risk of online harms. There isn’t time to waste.’
Age restrictions on viewing adult videos and images, the first in the world, were announced by then Digital Minister Margot James in April.
They were due to come into force on July 15, forcing porn sites to carry out ‘robust’ age verification checks to be regulated by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
But then Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright was forced to apologise in the Commons in June after admitting the proposals would be delayed for the second time, because officials failed to correctly notify the European Union.
The move, which applied to sites whose content is more than a third pornographic, was designed to cut the number of children who are freely able to access extreme material on the internet.
But it was criticised by freedom campaigners and others who feared that making people give personal details leaves them open to fraud and blackmail.
Under the new law companies running porn websites would have had to make users prove they are over 18, or face punishments including being blocked in the UK, being barred from receiving electronic payments or being delisted from search engines.
This means that punters will have to use one of several ways of proving their age, including picking up a ‘porn pas’ from the local newsagent.
The BBFC said in April that 18 ‘determined teenagers will find ways to access pornography’.
In a question and answer section on the website set up in response to the new law the BBFC said that it would ‘primarily’ target adult websites with high volumes of traffic but be partly reliant on whistleblowers to tell it about smaller sites breaking the law.
It admitted that the new law, part of the Digital Economy Act 2017, is mainly aimed at children who accidentally ‘stumble across pornography on commercial pornographic websites’.
Tony Stower, head of child safety online and innovation for the NSPCC, said the delay in implementing curbs on porn viewing was disappointing’, adding: ‘It is also imperative that the vehicle used to achieve protection for children from pornography is robust and effective. The Government cannot drag its feet on this.’
Ms Morgan added today: ‘The government’s commitment to protecting children online is unwavering.
‘Adult content is too easily accessed online and more needs to be done to protect children from harm.
‘We want to deliver the most comprehensive approach to keeping children safe online and recognised in the Online Harms White Paper the role that technology can play in keeping all users, particularly children, safe.’