A survey of 1,000 British children conducted at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich unveiled that consumption of digital pornography is rampant among adolescents.
Published in Policy and Internet, the survey showed that as many as 78 percent of young internet users in late adolescence had browsed the web, consuming pornographic content.
The study was conducted amid the passing of UK-based laws requiring the use of age verification checks for explicit content, like pornography.
“The results show that more (63%) had seen pornography on social media platforms than on pornographic websites (47%), suggesting the UK government was right to target such platforms in its latest proposals. However, pornography was much more frequently viewed on pornographic websites than on social media, showing how important the regulation of such sites remains,” the journal article reads.
“Furthermore, our finding that 46% of 16‐ and 17‐year‐olds had used a virtual private network or Tor browser adds weight to concerns that restrictions on legal internet pornography—such as age verification checks—imposed by a single country may be circumvented by those the restrictions are designed to protect.”
