Christian think tank Ofcom has disputed claims from Ofcom that the majority of major pornographic websites are providing “highly effective” age verification procedures.
Since the introduction of the controversial Online Safety Act, pornographic websites have been required to introduce age verification measures.
Christian groups have generally had mixed views on the Act, praising efforts to reduce online pornography consumption, particularly among children, but raising concerns about the possible censorship of dissent online.
Nearly one year after it came into force, regulator Ofcom has published a report stating that 66 of the top 100 pornography websites in Britain are meeting the requirements of the law with “highly effective” age verification measures.
These figures have been disputed by Christian policy group CARE, which said that only 44 such websites were using “highly effective” measures. CARE conducted its own research between 9 and 16 July, and found that among the top ten websites, only half met the “highly effective” standard.
According to CARE, 26 websites had attempted to meet the standard, but fell short of it and, of these, most (15) permitted access to “highly explicit thumbnails” before any age verification process kicked in. In addition, 18 of the 26 also provided explicit titles before age verification controls took effect. Nearly a third of sites (30) had no age verification measures at all.
CARE said it had contacted Ofcom in a bid to clarify why there was such a “serious discrepancy” between their own figures and Ofcom’s official report.
Tim Cairns, online safety lead at CARE, said, “While our data set might be different from the one Ofcom used, we would strongly dispute the claim by Ofcom that as many as 66 of the top 100 porn sites in the UK are providing highly effective age assurance controls.
“If you take Ofcom’s figure of 66, our research, conducted just days ago, only arrives at a similar figure if you combine sites that have ‘highly effective’ age assurance with sites that just have some form of age checks in place.”
Cairns questioned whether Ofcom was taking a sufficiently robust approach to the standards set out in the legislation, although he also accepted the fact that CARE and Ofcom could be looking at a different top 100 list, due to fluctuations in site popularity.
"In light of the very serious discrepancy between our research and that of Ofcom, the regulator needs to reassure the public that it has properly taken account of how frequently the data changes," he said.
And what is being done about the fact that just a few days ago, some 30 of the top 100 porn sites in the UK had absolutely no age assurance controls in place at all.
“We appreciate the huge remit Ofcom has, but strong and swift action against sites that fail to comply must now be enacted.”
