Age checks for porn: A first step, not a full stop

This summer the UK took a huge step forward in making the internet safer for children. At the heart of the Online Safety Act are the age verification provisions.

From the end of July, all social media platforms and commercial porn sites had to put in place robust and effective age gates to stop under-18s from accessing pornographic content. Platforms who fail to comply will be investigated and could face fines or court orders to stop them streaming in the UK.

CARE has long advocated for age checks on online porn. Children as young as seven have been stumbling across really graphic content entirely by accident because it is so prevalent. So to reach this point, after more than a decade of campaigning and many a twist and turn to get here, is a source of real joy.

Yet not everyone is rejoicing! Nigel Farage and Reform have said they would repeal the act. They and plenty others have raised concerns about data privacy (you have to give some personal data to prove you are 18+ to access online porn in the UK) and also about censorship online.

One example that did the rounds was a speech by Tory MP Katie Lamb. She read sections from a report into the grooming gangs scandal in Rochester. It was graphic and explicit and utterly appalling. On the platform X, you had to prove your age to watch that speech.

Well, in my view, that is not an egregious example of censorship. It is age checks doing its job! I do not think children should be listening to a highly explicit and graphic speech about what happened in Rochester. That sort of content should be limited to those who can prove their age.

Amidst the outrage from libertarians and some in the liberal commentariat, there was precious little about the moral duty we have to protect children. Consider for example the fact that the average age a child will see porn for the first time online is just 13 years old. We also know there’s been a huge spike in the number of cases of sexual violence where both parties are under 18. Police chiefs have cited porn as a reason behind this.

We already require anyone wanting to buy pornographic content offline to prove their age. This new law is about ensuring the same standard applies online.

In fact, I do not think age verification on online porn is the end of our mission to protect children online. Let’s be clear: the porn industry is evil. Porn itself is a superb example of humanity taking a good gift from our Creator God and perverting it and twisting it into something else.

Only Christianity has the internal coherence as a worldview to properly explain why porn is so wrong. The awful story of Bonnie Blue is instructive here. She holds a Guinness World Record for sleeping with more than 1,000 men in a 12 hour period. I think most secularists know there is something wrong with what she and all those men did.

But why? This is where secularism falls short. The secularist worldview will never be able to properly answer why Bonnie Blue’s actions are wrong.

You need God’s wisdom to go deeper. It is wrong because it undermines the human dignity of all involved. It is wrong because it breaks God’s eternal law. It is wrong because it diminishes the importance and sacredness of the human body.

I’m glad CARE has worked so hard to see age verification in place. It is one way we have sought to be voice for the vulnerable (Prov. 31v8-9). But age checks should be a first step, not a full stop. There is so much to do if we are to help correct the excesses of the porn industry. Ultimately, what we really need is to ban porn altogether. I suspect future generations will look back on what was permitted under our watch and be appalled.

Christian MPs and political figures contribute as believers not party politicians. en does not endorse any one particular party.