To think we should block porn as they do in France...

[jobhunter7]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10349501/Major-porn-sites-BLOCKED-France-unless-ensure-users-18.html

Agreed. Porn has done so much damage.

That would be fantastic.

Brilliant idea. Studies consistently show that watching porn actually changes men's behaviour for the worse.

👍

Agreed. We'll done France.

Great idea!

Great idea!

Absolutely

I am massively in favour of this.

Well done France! 👏

We owe it to our children to do the same!

Yes! Porn is so damaging and radicalising especially for young users. I worry so much about our children's exposure to this onslaught of violence, degradation and misogyny. I wish the horrific stuff was blocked for everyone rather than being mainstream but this is a really positive step.

Well, it's not a moral ban on internet porn. It's a block on porn which fails to ensure that the user is over 18. So, in effect, it amounts to the same thing but it's going to be interesting to how motivated those sites are to achieve a technological solution which apparently was beyond them or if this is the permanent state of affairs. If it's the former, hopefully more countries can benefit from France's bold move.

Yes, absolutely

I agree. Porn does so much damage to peoples relationships, expectations and ideas of relationships and encourages young men to treat their girlfriends like sex slaves.

Definitely. One has to question why on earth any government would NOT want to at least try.

They're getting five sites to put in age verification.

The word 'drop' and 'ocean' spring to mind

Good for them! Let's hope someone here is taking note.

I'd love to know exactly what these 'safeguards' pornhub claims to have in place are.

So what if pornsick men adults have to confirm who they are to watch porn if it helps protect children.
Perhaps it would be helpful to know exactly who is accessing what, especially with so much rape, child abuse and violence against women being watched now.

I'd sign that petition! I hate how easily accessible it is, especially to this generation.

It should be controlled in some way.

Yes.

Does it actually work? Or could your average teen get round the block in a couple of minutes?

I'm no fan of porn, especially straight porn, but I don't think this will get anywhere at all sadly. It feels, at least in part, like pre-presidential election populist policy scattergunning to me.

They already do something similar in Germany and teenagers get around it in about five seconds flat with VPNs and the like.

How would this work in reality though? As I understand it’s just five websites using this, so porn is easily available elsewhere. VPNs are very easy to put into place and I find it hard to think that French teenagers would be unable to get over that minor hurdle. As well as peer sharing of explicit content, both in person and social media.

I think everyone agrees that porn is bad for teenagers, but I can’t see how a ban would even start to solve the problem in reality. Having open and honest (and sometimes very awkward) discussions with your children about this from a young age (one stat says 60% 11-13 years old have viewed porn) is going to be more effective than parental and government bans. Teenagers are resourceful, tech savvy and you don’t have the same control over them as you do with a five year old. And they have friends who might not have the same online security as they do. They really are only as safe online as their least secure friend.

Well done France. There might be easy ways to evade it but the Government are willing to try do something about it. It will at least bring about more conversations about the damage porn can do to young people.

Can't see it changing anything. If teenagers want to watch it they'll get round it in about 5 seconds.
Even if the age restriction works people say its men who are behaving differently to women so not teenagers so it will make no difference.