- Exposure to violent pornography has increased since Online Safety Act became law, with more children seeing it accidentally – some as young as six.
- Children’s Commissioner updates landmark research into exposure to pornography, seeing its impact on attitudes towards and women and girls, sex and relationships: nearly half believe ‘girls can be persuaded to have sex’.
- Report sets a benchmark to measure impact of regulations introduced by Ofcom – as Children’s Commissioner calls for stronger regulations for the pornography industry and better monitoring of VPN use.
More children report seeing pornography online than two years ago, with more stumbling across it by accident and some aged as young as six – new research by the Children’s Commissioner finds.
New data from children aged 16 to 21 proves that despite major efforts to hold tech firms accountable for the content served up to children on their sites, more are seeing pornography online than in 2023, when the Commissioner published her first landmark research on the subject, ’A lot of it is just abuse’.
More than a quarter of children reported having seen it by age 11, with some reporting they have seen it ‘aged six or younger’. Many say it is now normal to see violent content that depicts acts that are illegal or soon will be.
More than half – 58% – had seen content featuring strangulation before turning 18, and many agreed it has affected their behaviour towards one another, with some particularly concerned about its impact on attitudes towards women and girls: 44% of the children surveyed agreed with the statement ‘girls may say no at first but then can be persuaded to have sex’. Girls were more likely to agree with the statement than boys.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said:
“My first report into children’s exposure to pornography two years ago offered damning proof of the scale of the problem we needed to solve. Today’s research, updated and replicated exactly from my 2023 work, highlights how little has changed in two years: violent pornography is easily accessible to children, exposure is often accidental and often via the most common social media sites, and it is impacting children’s behaviours and beliefs in deeply concerning ways – particular when it comes to attitudes towards women and girls.
“This report must be a line in the sand. It must be a snapshot of what was – not what will be. New protections introduced in July by Ofcom, part of the Online Safety Act, provide a real opportunity to make children’s safety online a non-negotiable priority for everyone: policymakers, big tech giants and smaller tech developers.
“Technology is evolving at incredible speed, but so are the risks it poses for the children using it. Our response – and our regulation – must match its pace.
The findings, published today, are from a nationally representative survey of children and young people aged 16-21, carried out in May 2025 – shortly before the introduction of Ofcom’s Children’s Codes in July. Using the same methodology and questions as the 2023 survey to ensure consistency, it found:
- Exposure to pornography has become normal: Most respondents (70%) said they had seen porn before the age of 18, with boys more likely than girls to report seeing porn (73% vs 65%). More young people said they had seen porn before the age of 18 than in 2023 (70% compared to 64%).
- Exposure happens at young ages: More than a quarter (27%) now said they had seen porn online by 11, with some reporting they were ‘aged 6 or younger’ when asked about their first exposure to it. The average age a child first sees pornography remained 13.
- More vulnerable children see it earlier: Children who received Free School Meals, those with a social worker, those with Special Educational Needs and those with disabilities – both physical and mental – were more likely to have seen online porn by 11 than their peers.
- Attitudes towards girls and women are influenced: Nearly half of respondents (44%) agreed with the statement: “girls may say no at first but then can be persuaded to have sex.” Further analysis showed that 54% of girls and 41% of boys who had seen porn online agreed with the statement, compared to 46% of girls and 30% of boys who had not seen porn – indicating a link between porn exposure and attitudes.
- More children saw porn accidentally: More respondents said they saw pornography online by accident (59%) than those who deliberately sought it out themselves (35%). The proportion of children accidentally seeing porn is 21% higher than 2023 (from 38% to 59%).
- Pornography was more accessible on social media: Networking and social media sites accounted for 8 out of the 10 main sources children accessed porn. X (formerly Twitter) remained the most common source of pornography for children, outstripping dedicated porn sites. The gap between the number of children seeing pornography on X and those seeing it on dedicated porn sites has widened (45% vs 35% in 2025, compared to 41% vs 37% in 2023).
- Much of the pornography children see is violent: Most respondents had seen depictions of acts that are illegal under existing pornography laws, or will become illegal through the Crime and Policing Bill. More than half (58%) saw porn depicting strangulation, nearly half (44%) reported seeing depictions of sex whilst asleep, and a third (36%) saw someone not consenting to or refusing a sex act – before they turned 18. Further analysis found low numbers of children sought out this violent or extreme content, meaning it was being served up to children, not them actively seeking it out.
When questioned about the circumstances or impact of exposure to pornography, more than four in five children and young people said seeing pornography online affected their expectations around sex (82%), while nearly three-quarters (73%) said it affected their behaviour towards one another. Both boys and girls held attitudes about what was expected of women during sex, and those who had seen pornography were more likely to hold beliefs about women that were degrading.
The implementation of the Online Safety Act provides the way forward to end children’s exposure to this kind of content, as will the introduction of the protections within the Children’s Code in July 2025. Beyond these, the Commissioner has set out a number of recommendations in her report to tackle the evolving harms to children:
- Equal standards for online and offline pornography: Children can access extremely harmful genres of pornography – including content that would be illegal to distribute offline, such as incest porn or scenes where adults portray children. The Online Safety Act must be amended to establish the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) as a regulator of pornographic content, ensuring the same legal standards apply across all formats. This could be written into a Safer Pornography Code.
- Close the VPN loopholes: Children can bypass protections in the Online Safety Act by using VPNs. The government must explore measures to prevent this, including requiring UK-based Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to implement highly effective age assurances to stop underage users from accessing pornography.
- Ban depictions of strangulation: Non-fatal strangulation is now a criminal offence when committed for sexual gratification, yet it remains widely depicted in online pornography. The Crime and Policing Bill must be amended to prohibit all depictions of non-fatal strangulation in pornography, without exceptions based on consent.
- Support healthy sexual attitudes: Pornography is distorting children’s understanding of sex, relationships, and themselves. Schools must implement the new Relationships, Health and Sex Education (RHSE) guidance in a way that is accessible and relevant to their students. The Department for Education should lead a national recruitment drive for specialist RHSE teachers to ensure children receive high-quality, age-appropriate education and support that evolves as children mature.
