When should kids have a smartphone? How should what they see online be monitored or restricted? These are the kinds of questions parents and grandparents, as well as teachers, doctors and people concerned about the next generation, are asking.
Our kids have a whole world at their fingertips. And they are spending more time online - at younger and younger ages.
More than one in three (39%) Canadian kids 2–6 years old use a smartphone (Globe & Mail, April 24, 2024). Half of kids (49%) between 7–11 years old have a smartphone. If our kids don’t have their own smartphone, they have friends, classmates or older siblings who do.
This access has the potential to expose kids to a range of harmful content. One of the serious concerns with smartphone and Internet use by kids is the easy access to pornography.
Why is online access a concern?
In the real word, there are protections that prevent kids from accessing explicit images. For example, there are age restrictions in theatres, adult stores, etc. There are rules about where certain magazines can be placed in stores to limit exposure to explicit content. But those protections aren’t in place online.
Youth are easily able to access pornography sites that are free and don’t have any meaningful age assurance in place. This ease of access means kids are viewing pornography online at younger and younger ages.
- Kids as young as 7 or 8 years old are watching and coming across pornography. Research found that more than half of 11- to 13-year-olds and two-thirds of 14- to 15-year-olds had viewed pornography online.
- For more than 60% of youth aged 11 to 13 years of age, their first viewing of pornography was accidental.
Much of the content easily available on pornography platforms features violent, degrading and abusive behaviour. It tells harmful and dangerous lies about sexuality, about men and women, and the ways they relate to each other. An analysis of international studies found that pornography consumption is associated with an increased likelihood of committing acts of verbal or physical sexual aggression, regardless of age.
Pornography affects the sexual attitudes, behaviours, and preferences of viewers. And the viewing of this content normalizes and contributes to sexual violence and exploitation in Canadian culture.
Pornography is having a profound and detrimental effect on the development of generations of children and youth.
This is clearly not what we want for our kids.
The good news is there are things we can do in our homes and society-wide to protect kids online.
One important way to help protect children and teens from inappropriate content on online platforms, such as apps, social media, and websites, is through the use of age-assurance technologies.
What is Age Assurance?
Many countries have introduced bills to require age assurance to increase the safety of young people online. There is a private member’s bill, Bill S-210, before Parliament that would make it a criminal offence to make sexually explicit material available, for a commercial purpose, to minors online.
But what is age assurance and how does it work?
“Age assurance” verifies that a person is over a minimum age limit before they can access certain content, like online gambling or explicit sexual images.
There are different ways to provide age assurance:
- Age estimation based on biometrics, like facial features (these technologies verify the user’s age, not their identity)
- A reusable ID from a third-party who has verified the user’s age
- ID document shown directly or confirmed by a third-party service (ex. showing driver’s licence)
- Credit card check
Currently, in Canada, there is in-person age assurance at point of sale to restrict access to gambling and under-age purchasing of certain products, like alcohol, cannabis products, vapes, and tobacco.
Other countries, like the United Kingdom and Germany, are requiring big tech to use age assurance technologies in order to protect children and youth. The Canadian Privacy Commissioner, who is looking into the use and design of age-assurance technologies, takes the position that “it is possible to design and use age assurance in a privacy-protective manner.”
Age-assurance technologies allow children and teens to access digital media safely – with support and protection. The EFC recommends the federal government require pornography and online gambling platforms to put meaningful, privacy-compliant age-assurance technologies in place to protect minors from being harmed by their content.
What about privacy?
As with many topics in technology, age assurance has some misconceptions, especially surrounding privacy. However, international experience shows:
- Age assurance can maintain user privacy. The goal of age assurance is to confirm the viewer is over a specific age, without tracking their identity. Most age assurance is done through an independent third party that has data safeguards. Once the question has been answered, is this user 18 or older?, the third party group deletes any data. Data is only stored for the amount of time it takes to verify age. Many age assurance systems are designed with privacy in mind.
- Age assurance isn’t a type of surveillance. As digital identity company Yoti explained to a parliamentary committee, “Age verification does not equate to surveillance. The process does not track or monitor users’ activities but simply verifies age attributes. This distinction is crucial.” Official identifying documents are not always required to verify age. Facial age estimation provides an option to confirm someone is over 18, without accessing their personal data.
Conclusion
Pornography is impacting your children, friends, family, and community. Age-assurance technologies are needed to protect children and youth from the harmful impacts of viewing or being exposed to pornography online. Platforms need to play a role in protecting citizens.
Ask your MP to protect kids online and support age assurance. Bill S-210 would make it a criminal offence to make sexually explicit material available, for commercial purposes, to minors online. We encourage you to reach out to your MP and ask them to vote for Bill S-210.
Read and share the EFC’s newest brochure, “What is Age Assurance?”. Pass this resource along to at least one friend.
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Thoughtful kid watching at phone image © from YakobchukOlena (Getty Images) via Canva.com