In light of the above considerations, the Assembly invites
the Council of Europe member States to:
6.1 examine the existing means and provisions to combat children’s
exposure to pornographic content and address the gaps in relevant
legislation and practice with a view to better protecting children from
exposure to such content;
6.2 ensure that easy-to-use parental controls, ad-filtering
and ad-blocking tools are built in by default on all electronic
devices and are systematically activated in public spaces, such
as schools, libraries and youth clubs; support awareness raising
on the tools available, including through information from schools,
training offered in the workplace and government advertising campaigns;
6.3 ensure that tagging of online content as “restricted to
adults” is mandatory for adult websites;
6.4 support the use of age verification tools, and in particular:
6.4.1 develop relevant legislation to ensure that both dedicated
websites hosting adult content and mainstream and social media,
which include adult content, are obliged to use age verification tools;
6.4.2 ensure that such tools are user friendly, simple, secure
and effective, as well as respectful of the privacy of users’ data;
ensure that age verification tools are not misused for harvesting
data, thus enabling blackmail or identity theft;
6.4.3 ensure that age verification providers are individually
approved and vetted using a formal certification process carried
out by a recognised body; this certification process should not only
test for overall age verification efficacy and privacy compliance,
but also for security and protection from a breach of data storage
facilities;
6.4.4 mandate compliance with age verification requirements;
tackle the problem of search engines that promote non-compliant
sites because users favour sites that do not ask for their personal
information, which increases “bounce rate” and has an adverse commercial
effect on compliant sites;
6.4.5 consider the development of “black” lists of domains,
or URLs, which are found to be in breach of the legislation or in
the process of being investigated, and “white” lists for the domains that
have accredited age verification processes in place;
6.4.6 ensure that compliance with age restriction regulations
is systematically monitored by relevant law-enforcement bodies,
that circumvention techniques are identified and duly tackled; and
that penalties for non-compliance are swiftly introduced;
6.4.7 ensure that there is flexibility in the way in which age
verification systems are used, in order to allow for the introduction
of new technologies, on the one hand, and to give the platforms and
their users choices with respect to the information that is to be
provided on the other hand;
6.4.8 ensure that age verification systems are cost effective
both for large and small companies, and are capable of treating
large data volumes; allow companies reasonable time to implement
and test solutions;
6.4.9 develop awareness-raising campaigns to promote public
trust in age verification platforms and confidence that the privacy
of users’ data is respected, so as to discourage users from looking
for non-compliant adult content sites, which are highly unlikely
to have content or user safety policies and protections and which
pose a greater risk of exposure to dangerous, illegal content and
possible viruses/malware;
6.4.10 support the development of European and international
standards, regulation and certification;
6.5 ensure that the use of the artificial intelligence technologies
that are driving pornography addiction is investigated, monitored
and regulated;
6.6 consider the introduction of an alert button or other
similar solution for children to report accidental access to pornographic
content and envisage follow-up action, such as warnings or penalties
for relevant websites;
6.7 develop, in dialogue with the private sector – in particular
mobile operators, global digital platforms, companies operating
in the gaming market, designers and tech service providers – a framework
conducive to the development of internet programmes, video games,
social media platforms, as well as virtual reality environments,
which guarantee safe usage especially by children, including: the adoption
of stringent codes of conduct aimed at avoiding children’s exposure
to pornographic content; forms of content moderation with human
intervention, as purely automated solutions might be unable to identify
the risks for children; anonymous complaint and reporting mechanisms;
co-operation mechanisms between the private sector and law-enforcement
authorities to fight effectively against illegal pornographic content;
6.8 ensure that education programmes at all levels promote
respect for human dignity, physical integrity and gender equality;
increase parents’ and families’ awareness of the need to educate
their children about sexuality in a comprehensive and age-appropriate
manner; equip children with the skills required for navigating the
digital space safely and responsibly; introduce or further strengthen
age-appropriate and comprehensive sexuality and relationship education
in schools; and ensure that such education programmes are delivered
in an age-appropriate manner by duly trained professionals, are conducted
separately with boys and girls when appropriate, meet children’s
needs and are developed with their participation;
6.9 support pornography harm awareness measures, such as the
use of embedded health and legal warnings within pornography websites
and the inclusion of relevant information in curriculums, including on
the impact of pornography on children’s brain development, the increased
risk of sexual dysfunction and the reduced ability to build healthy
sexual relationships in future life;
6.10 promote public debate on children’s exposure to pornography
and the means and provisions to address it, and facilitate parents’
and children’s participation in relevant decision making;
6.11 support further research on the impact of children’s exposure
to pornography and ways to prevent and end exposure, as well as
on means to combat harmful effects of such exposure;
6.12 ensure that hotlines, helplines and contact persons (including
in schools), where children experiencing problems related to exposure
to pornography can seek advice and assistance, are available and
accessible.
