Government must stop children using VPNs to dodge age checks on porn sites, commissioner demands
The UK asked the children’s commissioner to prevent the government from using virtual private networks (VPNs) to make age verification in porn fields.
Dame Rachel de Souza, who called for change, warned that when publishing a new report, it was a gap a gap that absolutely needs to close ,, which has seen that pornography has increased in the last two years and that the rate of accidental stumbles has risen in the last two years.
VPNs are tools that connect Internet users to websites through remote servers and allow them to conceal their real IP addresses and locations, which allows them to appear online in another country. This means that if some adults are trying to access their content, the online Security Law, which forces platforms to control the age of users, can escape.
A government spokesman told Independent VPNs have legal tools for adults and do not have plans to ban them.
After introducing age verification requirements last month, VPNs became the most downloaded applications. BBC.
“Of course, we need age verification in VPNs – this is definitely a gap that needs closing, and this is one of my great suggestions.”
The ministers urged VPNs to require VPN to require a highly effective age safety application to stop non -disregard users’ access to pornography.
More than half of those who responded to the commissioner’s questionnaire (58 percent) reported that they see pornography with pornography drowning as children, 44 percent of them saw a depiction of rape – especially sleeping.
The report, which consists of 1,020 people between the ages of 16 and 21, said that children were 13 years old when they first saw pornography, and that they were more than one -quarter (27 percent) 11 years old and some were “six or smaller”.
The research suggests that four of the 10 participants could be convinced of having sex even if they said no at first, and that the young people watching pornography were more likely to think in this way.
In the report conducted by the Children’s Commissioner Office in 2023, a higher rate (70 percent) was found by saying that they had seen online pornography before 64 percent of the participants from 64 percent of the participants.
Men (73 percent) were likely to report online pornography than girls (65 percent).
The majority of children and young people (59 percent) said that they see accidents online – an increase from 38 percent in 2023.
Dame Rachel said that the research is evidence that the harmful content is presented to children through dangerous algorithms.
He explained the content of young people as “violent, extreme and humiliating” and usually illegal, and said that the findings of his office should be seen as “an image of what the rock base resembles”.
Dame Rachel said: “This report should act as a line in the sand. The findings determined how much platforms should change to keep the children’s children safe.
“For example, take a large number of children who have accidentally seen pornography. This tells how much of the problem is.
In May, the research was carried out before the new online security measures, which came into force last month, including age controls to prevent children from accessing pornography and other harmful content.
A Science of Science, Innovation and Technology Department Independent: “Children have been abandoned for a long time in an unlawful online world, bombed with pornography and harmful content that could injure them from the creator for life. Online security law is changing it.
“Let’s be open: VPNs are legal tools for adults and do not have plans to prohibit them. However, if platforms deliberately pushing temporary solutions such as VPNs to children, they face challenging application and heavy fines.
“We will not allow corporate interests to come before child safety. This is about drawing a line – no more excuse, no more gaps.
