Tots as young as two spotted viewing online porn by concerned parents

BY Mirror

UK: Children as young as two have been spotted by parents accessing online porn in three million households, according to a shock survey.

But three-quarters of mums and dads could not name a single parental control available to keep internet devices safe.

And four in 10 said they had no protective software installed on their gadgets.

Some said they resorted to spying on their children’s web history and social media accounts to see what they looked at online, the survey by comparison site uSwitch.com found.

Marie-Louise Abretti, of uSwitch, said: “It’s far harder for parents to keep tabs on children. Unfortunately, not all parents are clued up about the parental controls available that can filter inappropriate content and keep kids safe.”

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The NSPCC called the report’s findings “chilling” and said: “This material can be extremely upsetting and gives a distorted view of sexual relations.”

The findings come less than a week after a House of Commons committee review stated that online security for children was “insufficient”.

David Cameron also used Prime Minister’s Questions this month to suggest a broadening of legislation that would look to ban ‘rape porn’.

Claire Lilley, Head of Child Safety Online at children’s charity the NSPCC, called the findings of the report ‘chilling’, and warned against the long term effects of exposure to explicit content at a young age.

“The NSPCC has been warning for some time now about the dark influence that extreme, violent and pornographic material can have on children, who can sadly find it relatively easily online. This material can be extremely upsetting and confusing for young people, and be damaging at important stages in their development. It gives them a distorted view of sexual relations and puts pressure on children to imitate what is being shown.”

Last month, a 12-year-old boy admitted raping his younger sister after watching porn on an Xbox. He walked free from youth court and is now working with social workers ahead of returning to his family home.

“Pornographic sites have a legal duty to stop under-age access and others can do more to verify the ages of users,” said Ms Lilley. “Service providers and website owners must also continue to make it easier for young people to report upsetting content and behaviour, and take swift action to remove it.”