Children as young as 10 exposed to online porn, study says

More than half of young teenagers have come across porn before turning 14

The NSPCC is calling for an Online Safety Bill to be introduced so kids are not misled about sexual relationships (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

As the govenrment’s Online Safety Bill struggles through the House of Commons, research has found that 15 per cent of children as young as 10 stumble across x-rated material while and 54 per cent have viewed porn by the age of 14.

A study of 1,300 teens in the United States conducted by the non-profit Common Sense Media found the average age of earliest exposure to online porn is 12.

Some 73 per cent of those surveyed had viewed online porn at some point before turning 18 – a 31-point increase over data collected in 2014.

The findings also raise questions about internet safety, with 58 per cent saying they had not been purposefully searching for porn when they were first exposed to it.

Many teens also reported seeing violent, explicit content, depicting “rape, choking, or someone in pain,” while only 33 per cent said they had seen porn showing someone asking for consent.

One-third of the teens who said they “intentionally view pornography” look for it on social media, but the study explained the findings did not necessarily indicate minors were finding professional porn or hardcore porn.

Boys and girls reported similar results of exposure to porn with boys at 75 per cent and girls at 70 per cent. But boys were more likely to intentionally seek out porn at 52 per cent compared to girls at 36 per cent.

Adult sites xvidoes and Pornhub are the 9th and 10th most visited websites worldwide and have an estimated reach of 6.7 billion monthly viewers (PA)

the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has called for the Online Safety Bill to have greater age-related protection for adult websites.

Richard Collard, NSPCC Child Safety Online Policy Manager, said: “Watching pornography at a young age can have a detrimental impact on a child’s understanding of sex and healthy relationships. More concerning is exposure to violent pornography which can shape a young person’s understanding of consent and their views on gender.

“Yet as this study shows, children and young people are stumbling upon harmful pornographic content without even looking for it.”

“That’s why it’s so important that we have an Online Safety Bill which compels online pornography sites to rollout effective age assurance measures that provide the highest level of confidence about a user’s age whilst also taking into consideration adults right to privacy.”

Now that the Bill is coming back into parliament, the government needs to give Ofcom the powers to set minimum standards for age assurance.”