All available studies show that exposure of children to pornographic content at such an early stage of development gives rise to a number of threats, in particular, weaker social inclusion, more undesirable behaviour, signs of depression and disturbs emotional bond with guardians – indicated Minister Marlena Maląg at the conference.

The development of digital technologies, including the mobile internet, made it easier for minors to access pornographic content, anywhere, even in their own room, unbeknownst to their parents. It is required to take many joint measures – legislative and educational – so as to effectively protect minors from harmful content on the Internet.

New technology is both an opportunity and a threat. We are introducing a mechanism that gives a real opportunity to fight pornographic content on the net – stressed Minister Janusz Cieszyński.

Although this subject has been raised by psychologists, educators and parents for years, still there were no effective mechanisms to restrict access to this content. Therefore, together with the community, by way of consultations and discussions, a draft act on the protection of minors from access to inappropriate content on the internet has been prepared.

We expect that a service that will be mandatory for operators, but also very simple and free of charge for parents, will strengthen the protection of children – added the Deputy Minister of Family and Social Policy, Barbara Socha.

The importance of protecting children from harmful content was also mentioned by Dorota Bojemska – the President of the Family Council. She stressed that the subject of protecting children from these content was a priority for the Family Council.

NASK report – Teenagers in the face of digital pornography

The main conclusions of the report show that minors have easy access to pornographic content on the internet. For most respondents (76.2% of older and 66.9% of younger), a mobile phone or a smartphone is the primary tool for having contact with this content.

- Our role is, inter alia, to examine all the phenomena taking place in the digital world and to find solutions for them in the real world. Thanks to this, we know that almost unlimited access to pornographic content by minors applies to many countries in the EU, and in some cases the results are similar to ours, for example, in Spain – said the Director of NASK, Wojciech Pawlak.

The report “Teenagers in the face of digital pornography” is one of many analyses developed by the PIB Team for Studies and Opinions - NASK. It is composed of academic researchers and practitioners in the field of sociology, data science, laws, cognitive science and anthropology who carry out research projects, including quantitative, qualitative studies, User Experience audits by means of methods such as CAWI, CATI, PAPI, IDI, and desk research. The conclusions of these studies are used for the purposes of public debate, social campaigns and projects, and for implementing specific measures and tools to protect recipients, especially the youngest ones, from undesirable content on the internet.

Draft act

The draft act responds to the need to regulate the use of the internet by the youngest users. The act is to protect minors in particular, but also to help parents and guardians to restrict access to pornographic content. To this end, Internet operators/providers will be required to:

• introduce a free, effective and easy-to-use mechanism to block access to pornographic content on the internet,
• take promotion measures to make subscribers aware of the possibility of using a service to restrict access to pornographic content on the internet,
• draw up a report on measures taken which are aimed at promoting the use of solutions restricting access to pornographic content on the internet.

The Minister of Digital Affairs will be able, in cooperation with the Office of Electronic Communications, to carry out inspections so as to verify compliance with the provisions of the act by providers, including the completeness of a report on measures taken by the provider and to impose a financial penalty on providers that do not observe their statutory obligations.

However, we should remember that the protection of minors is a task for all. Only numerous educational and legislative measures may help protect children and young people from threats on the internet.