In a recent article for the journal Porn Studies I raised doubts about whether children and young people watching porn online is apparently so harmful to them that the restrictive measures proposed by the Online Safety Act (OSA) are necessary, proportionate and compatible with the UK’s various human rights obligations. I also posed the question of whether these measures, and particularly the requirements for age-verification, are actually workable. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Tag: Children (Page 1 of 3)
As of July 25 2025, people in the UK accessing web services with pornographic content will have to prove they are over 18 years of age. This development has been in the works for a while. It was proposed in 2014 by the video-on-demand regulator, and legislated for introduction in 2019 through the British Board of Film Classification. Continue reading
A campaign to block children’s access to social media to limit online harms and unhealthy internet use is picking up momentum in Australian politics. The current age limit for platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok is 13, but some state governments are calling to raise this age to 16. Continue reading
Everyone has a reasonable expectation of privacy concerning their private information, whether they are an adult or a child. However, there are certain cases when a child has a reasonable expectation of privacy where an adult does not. Continue reading
Right at the time social media became popular, teen mental health began to falter. Between 2010 and 2019, rates of depression and loneliness doubled in the U.S. and globally, suicide rates soared for teens in the U.S. and emergency room admissions for self-harm tripled among U.S. 10- to 14-year-old girls. Continue reading
There has been rising pressure for internet regulation, both within the UK and internationally, and we have witnessed some significant developments, such as the UK government’s Online Harms White Paper, which the new government plans to action, and the publication of the Age appropriate Design Code by the Information Commissioner’s Office. Continue reading
This Saturday, 25 May, will be the one year anniversary of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force. Alex Cooney, CEO of CyberSafeIreland, a non-profit working to empower children, parents and teachers to navigate the online world in a safe and responsible manner, discusses the impact of the regulation on children, particularly the GDPR’s requirement for a digital age of consent. Continue reading
The damage has already been done, said the Court of Appeal in the recent ‘celebrity threesome’ decision (PJS). Those who want to know probably already know, so the injunction preventing the identification of the individuals must be set aside. Continue reading
Newspapers routinely lift material from Facebook and other social media, perhaps on the general assumption that photographs, for example, voluntarily uploaded, as opposed to snatched from behind a long lens, are fair game. But, to the extent that reflects the legal position, does it hold true for content accessed from children’s social media accounts? Should it? Continue reading
Today’s children will feature in almost 1,000 online photographs by the time they reach the age of five. That’s according to recent research commissioned by the charity Nominet for its online safety campaign, Knowthenet. Continue reading
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