Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has vowed to explore measures to protect children from being exposed to online pornography.

“The family is the foundation of Polish society, and numerous studies show that children’s access to pornography is an increasingly serious problem,” tweeted Morawiecki, adding that he would be requesting a meeting with the Family Council to seek its opinion on how to deal with the problem.

That council was established last week by Marlena Maląg, the minister for family, work and social policy. Comprising 14 largely conservative MPs, representatives of NGOs and academics, its aims are to support initiatives promoting “pro-family culture” and “the traditional family” as well as to investigate ways to improve Poland’s demographic situation.

Rodzina jest podstawą polskiego społeczeństwa, a liczne badania pokazują, że dostęp dzieci do pornografii to coraz poważniejszy problem. W związku z pojawiającymi się inicjatywami społecznymi mającymi chronić dzieci poproszę radę ds. rodziny o opinię i spotkanie w poniedziałek. https://t.co/pcFpA4wj9I — Mateusz Morawiecki (@MorawieckiM) December 11, 2019

The prime minister’s pledge comes in response to an announcement by the Twoja Sprawa (meaning “it’s your business”) association, which seeks to protect young people from “from uncontrolled and excessively easy access to pornography”, that it had finished work on preparing a legislative initiative.

According to the authors of the bill, its ideas are based in part on proposals expressed in the new EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), which Poland is to implement by September 2020. The measures will require suppliers of pornography to implement effective age verification controls.

The problem of children being exposed to pornography has become an increasingly sensitive topic as their access to the internet has increased. According to research carried out in Poland by the Institute for Integrated Prevention on more than 10,000 school pupils aged between 14 and 16, among boys:

Around 11% look at pornography at least once a day

Around 11% do so 11 to 30 times a month

Around 10% do so six to ten times a month

The study also showed that some, albeit fewer, girls are exposed to online pornography.

A study by the Empowering Children Foundation conducted in 2017 for the health ministry found that 92% of Polish minors viewing pornographic materials did so through the internet, and 79% using smartphones.

Izabela Karska, press spokesperson for Twoja Sprawa, said: “In Poland we’re contending with a big problem of readily available internet pornography that children and teenagers have access to. Even children under ten are beginning to use this content.”

Main image credit: Adam Guz/KPRM/Flickr (under public domain)