A report from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has revealed that children as young as seven are coming across pornography online.

The children described feeling uncomfortable,”grossed out” and “confused” after viewing sexually explicit content online.

The survey found that more than half of children said that they had stumbled across pornography accidentally. The research indicated that when children first see pornography online it is most commonly unintentional.

51% of the youngsters, aged 11 to 13, said they had seen pornography at some point. This figure increased to 66% among 14- to 15-year-olds.

Girls also shared their concern over the aggressive depictions of sex, which could be normalised by young boys watching pornography, who may then attempt to copy it in real-life sexual encounters.

David Austin, chief executive of the BBFC, said: “Pornography is currently one click away for children of all ages in the UK, and this research supports the growing body of evidence that it is affecting the way young people understand healthy relationships, sex, body image and consent.

“The research also shows that when young children – in some cases as young as seven or eight years old – first see pornography online, it is most commonly not on purpose.”

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The UK is pushing to make it harder for children to access pornographic websites through new legislation that would require those visiting adult websites from a UK IP address to verify their age.

The new age verification regime, part of the Digital Economy Act, was due to come into force in July but has since been delayed another six months.

The BBFC has been appointed as the age-verification regulator and will monitor adult sites to ensure they have appropriate means of checking the age of visitors.

The report also explored the effects of pornography on children. Of those children who were aware of pornography, just over 40% said they agreed that it made people less respectful of the opposite sex.

Girls expressed concerns that the that aggressive depictions of sex would be seen as normal by young males and copied in real life.

Although responsible for regulating the new system, the BBFC is not prescribing how sites verify age. Verification will be done using a variety of methods, including credit card checks and systems such as AgeID, which requires people to upload scans of their passports or driving licences.

Critics have said the legislation is unlikely to prove effective as it can be easily circumnavigated by determined individuals using a VPN (virtual private network), which can make it seem like a UK-based computer is located elsewhere in order to avoid the blocks.

However, more than eight in ten parents agreed that there should be age-verification controls in place for online pornography, according to the survey, with just under half of children saying that the plan was a good idea – though 11- to 13-year-olds were more in favour than older teenagers.

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