The way children experience the internet has fundamentally changed, as new laws under the Online Safety Act have come into force to protect under-18s from harmful online content they shouldn’t ever be seeing, News Cover reports, citing UK government.
This includes content relating to:
pornography
self-harm
suicide
eating disorder content
Ofcom figures show that children as young as 8 have accessed pornography online, while 16% of teenagers have seen material that stigmatises body types or promotes disordered eating in the last 4 weeks.
To protect the next generation from the devastating impact of this content, people now have to prove their age to access pornography or this other harmful material on social media and other sites.
Platforms are required to use secure methods like facial scans, photo ID and credit cards checks to verify the age of their users. This means it will be much harder for under-18s to accidentally or intentionally access harmful content.
It’s clear in Ofcom’s codes that we expect platforms to ensure that strangers have no way of messaging children. This includes preventing children from receiving DMs from strangers and children should not be recommended any accounts to connect with.
