Topics: Sex and Relationships, UK News, Explained, Technology, Social Media, Crime
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
The UK Government announced last week (10 April) that pornography depicting illegal sexual conduct between family members and adults roleplaying as children will now be criminalised.
Publication of pornography depicting adults roleplaying as children or depicting incest will carry a maximum sentence of five years.
Meanwhile, possession of pornography depicting adults roleplaying as children will carry a maximum sentence of three years. Possession of pornography depicting incest will carry a maximum sentence of two years.
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The latest update comes a few years after the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) published a report in February 2024 regarding its reThink chatbot, which was developed by IWF and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, and deployed by Aylo (formerly Mindgeek).
According to the IWF, the chatbot led to a decrease in the number of searches for child sexual abuse material on Pornhub UK, as found by an independent evaluation led by researchers at the University of Tasmania.
The IWF outlines that the project was the first of its kind to use chatbot technology to intervene when people attempt to search for sexual images of children and 'aims to help them stop, or not start, offending'.
Aylo maintains a list of more than 28,000 banned terms in multiple languages, which is 'constantly being updated'.
"When a search uses a banned term, the chatbot appears as a pop-up, along with a warning message. The chatbot warns users about their illegal behaviour and signposts them to Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now service, where they can get help and support to stop their behaviour," IWF explains.
The evaluation found that the chatbot was 'successful in deterring people from searching for child sexual abuse material on Pornhub'.
"It suggests that chatbots and warning messages may be an effective way of getting people to change their behaviour and preventing them from going down a path which could see them accessing criminal material and, potentially, abusing children themselves as time goes on," IWF added.
Back in 2022, the IWF confirmed: "Whenever someone visiting the Pornhub site appears to search for sexual images of children, it will prompt a message pop-up informing them that no results exist, and warning them that they have attempted to search for potentially abusive and illegal imagery."
Tyla has reached out to Pornhub for comment.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
