UK Banning Porn Websites? Government Wants Sites To Verify Users' Age Or Face Shutdown

The government of the United Kingdom is set to take a strong stand against underage exposure to explicit content online by drafting legislation that can lead to porn websites being blocked if they do not verify the age of users accessing their content.

The government’s crackdown comes soon after research commissioned by National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Children’s Commissioner for England concluded that 53 percent of children between the ages of 11 and 16 had come across pornographic content online.

The NSPCC reportedly said an entire generation of children was facing the risk of being “stripped of their childhoods.”

Culture secretary Karen Bradley has taken a stand to ban the sites unless they comply with new age verification rules for viewers. She said, “Only adults should be allowed to view such content and we have appointed a regulator, BBFC, to make sure the right age checks are in place to make that happen. If sites refuse to comply, they should be blocked.” The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is the body that will be in charge of enforcing the porn ban.

The proposed law has found support from Members of Parliament from both the Conservative and Labour party, the Guardian reported, increasing its chances of being passed.

Tory MP Claire Perry reportedly said: “There has been so much cross-party campaigning on this and it’s great that all the work from the parliamentary backbenches has led to this valuable change.”

The enforcement of this law, however, can be tricky. While the law will bring under its purview all websites globally, it is not clear how the censorship will affect platforms like Tumblr or Twitter, which have also been known to carry erotic content.

The law also faces the challenge of virtual private network services like Hola, which allow people to access the internet as if they are in another country.

Despite this, the Department of Culture remains optimistic and Bradley maintained, “The Government is committed to keeping children safe from harmful pornographic content online and that is exactly what we are doing.”