Is it possible to regulate porn? The battle to close a dangerous door to sex for minors

Put doors to the field, cover the sun with a finger, empty the Atlantic with a bucket of beach.

Any of those idioms are worth explaining how possible it is to completely restrict internet porn to minors.

There are more than 47 million Spaniards and 94.9% have access to the Internet, according to the latest report from We Are Social, from February: mobile phones, tablets, computers, video games, televisions.

It's everywhere.

And where there is connection, there is porn.

Spain ranks 11th in pornography consumption on the world's largest platform, Pornhub, with more than 120 million global daily visits.

But porn is also there if you don't search: it pops up in pop-up windows, appears in search engine results with the most unlikely keywords, in unsolicited advertisements, on social media.

The problem?

There are many.

That most of these clips show violent sex —virtually all towards women—, physically and verbally, devoid of any empathy, consent, reciprocity and, obviously, affection.

That it is that and practically nothing else that serves as sexual education for many children and adolescents: slaps, women dragged by the hair, suffocation, rape simulations, and sometimes, also, real rapes.

And that already, for several years, specialists point to this type of porn —the so-called

slapping, women being dragged by their hair, choking, simulated rape, and sometimes actual rape as well.

And that already, for several years, specialists point to this type of porn —the so-called

slapping, women being dragged by their hair, choking, simulated rape, and sometimes actual rape as well.

And that already, for several years, specialists point to this type of porn —the so-called

not all pornography is the same—as one of the factors to take into account in the increase in sexual violence among minors.

The State Attorney General's Office (FGE) itself, in its last annual report, with data from 2021, noted: "The numbers of cases initiated [for sexual crimes] are eloquent and the explanations of the delegates, although with different and interesting nuances, move in similar lines.

Without incurring in any moralism, it warns against the insouciance and banality with which sexual relations between adolescents are faced.

[...] Emphasis continues to be placed on highly sexualized behaviors at very early ages [...].

This early onset is fundamentally linked to access to pornography on mobile devices from prepubertal ages.”

As prepubescent as eight, or six years old, as recent studies point out.

And the Public Prosecutor's Office alluded in that report to the delegated prosecutor of Granada, who "deepening into the subject, comments on the contradiction involved in issuing regulatory standards for content of this kind in the mass media, while, at the same time, there

no protocols to try to prevent minors from accessing pornographic web pages”.

This prosecutor refers to the General Law on Audiovisual Communication, approved last summer, which introduced measures for the protection of users and minors against certain audiovisual content —adapting to the European directive in this area approved in 2018 that still, however, it does not have precise instructions—, among them, “to establish and operate age verification systems for users with respect to content that may harm the physical, mental or moral development of minors that, in any case, prevent the their access to the most harmful audiovisual content, such as gratuitous violence or pornography” or “provide parental control mechanisms or digital coding systems”.

But these issues operate for televisions, or channels and platforms on demand.

What about the hundreds of thousands of porn websites, registered anywhere in the world?

If you open any of them for the first time, a window appears with a warning: "For adults only."

And a button: “Accept”.

Pressing it is enough to have millions of videos in front of you.

When there is access again from the same device, the warning will not even appear, the

(

) of the page recognizes that it has already been entered before and gives free rein.

Legislations and attempts that collide with privacy

In Spain, the question of how to regulate pornography has surfaced in recent years.

In the last general elections, the PSOE was the only party that included it in its electoral program: "We will pursue trafficking and sexual exploitation, especially of minors, and we will protect them from the creation, dissemination and exposure of pornography" and "we will promote protection enforcement of minors to prevent access to pornography”.

The party confirms that it will maintain the commitment for the next elections.

The compromise was later part of the coalition agreement of the current government, in the same terms.

The legislature is a few months away from ending and nothing has moved in this area.

Yes, unsolicited access to pornography was introduced in the Childhood and Adolescence Law and in general, as one of the forms of violence against minors, in addition to some education and awareness measures regarding the matter.

But nothing specific, or concrete, that could restrict access.

The idea that flies over is to verify the age of those who access these contents.

Now, the Law on the Protection of Personal Data and Guarantee of Digital Rights establishes the age of consent for the processing of personal data at 14 years, and includes as a very serious infraction "failing to prove reasonable efforts have been made to verify the validity of the consent given by a minor.

But, according to the report

, from the Spanish Agency for Data Protection, "so far, there is no evidence that editors and publishers of adult content in Spain use any effective method to verify the age of majority of the users".

In the State of Louisiana, in the United States, since January 1, an identity document is needed to access any page that has in its content, at least, one third of pornography.

That, according to European legislation, would not be possible precisely due to the protection of user data.

But "other countries [with laws similar to the Spanish ones in this regard] are trying or have already tried," says Ana Valero, professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Castilla-La Mancha and author of the book La libertad de la

(Athenaica, 2022).

He refers to the United Kingdom, which wanted to pass "very problematic legislation" in terms of privacy: it was based on the sending of information that verified the age to the

, and these had to send them in turn to the Government.

They gave up in 2019 and directed efforts to sexual education in schools and institutes.

Also to Australia, "which wants to use facial recognition and may have the same privacy problems."

And to France, which is working, as explained by the French Minister for Digital Transition and Telecommunications, Jean-Noël Barrot, in February in the National Assembly, "on an age verification solution that respects the principle of double anonymity", that is, that the telephone operator or any other platform through which this verification is provided does not know what it will be used for, and that the website in which it is used to gain access does not know the identity of the person entering.

“We do not know which one will be more effective, or if any will be, but it will be necessary to see to what extent both legal rights should be weighed: on the one hand, data protection, but also the protection of youth and children.

Consider when it might be necessary to transfer the data to protect minors”, adds Valero, who believes that “the platforms should be able to get involved”, so that they proactively collaborate in implementing verification systems, whatever they may be.

"But the big industry is aware that adolescents are their new niche and they work massively to capture them," he also points out.

A fine of 525,000 euros for violation of personal data

What then is the solution?

In the current legislative context, it is not easy.

Sources from the Data Protection Agency recall that their powers are limited to just that, the protection of personal information, that they are "very aware that access by minors to online content for adults and the addictive

of new technologies are habits that can entail serious risks for their development and mental health and serious consequences in their family, educational and social environment”.

And that they work in that direction.

The agency also explains that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) "gives supervisory authorities the ability to apply a series of corrective powers, of which the imposition of an administrative fine is only one of the options, along with other measures, such as, for example, the warning, the warning, or the adoption of measures so that the processing of personal data conforms to the regulation”.

They explain it because, due to this capacity, the AEPD initiated ex officio prior investigation actions against a company, owner of several porn websites, for alleged violations of data protection regulations —among them, the possible processing of personal data of minors 14 years obtained while browsing the web pages—, which ended with "an economic sanction of 525,000 euros for violation of various provisions of the GDPR and imposed on the company the obligation to apply effective and adequate security measures to verify the age of the users, guaranteeing that only people of legal age can access web pages with adult content”.

But the AEPD does not always have the capacity to act.

It happens, for example, when the companies are not located in Spain.

But the debate on how to follow the path to protect minors from a certain type of pornography is necessary for Sociology doctor Lluís Ballester, an expert in the relationship between youth and pornography: "We had the same debate regarding other products that are identified with freedom, like tobacco.

Socially, we have come to accept strong restrictions on access and consumption because the research demonstrated the effects it produced.

Right now, the evidence regarding habitual use of pornography is about the same level as what we had before the tobacco restrictions.”

“Education of emotions, relationships, sexuality”

Ballester believes that in this sense there are possible, and urgent, measures that could be taken, such as "establishing by law that all devices with an Internet connection that are put up for sale in Spain have parental controls activated by default and establishing telephone complaint lines and counseling for minors and families [something that France has also done with the so-called

and telephone 3018], establish an advisory council of experts on minors and risks in the audiovisual environment of the National Commission for Markets and Competition, or set up the Audiovisual Council in all the autonomous communities, with the task of working on this topic”, among others.

Beyond the specific measures, both Valero and Ballester and other specialists point towards a clear objective: prevention.

For the latter, “the best approach is the education of emotions, affections, relationships, sexuality;

as well as digital education”.

In addition, he says that protection mechanisms must be activated for people who are at risk and those who have already suffered damage, and "participation processes and investigations that allow a better understanding of what is happening, for example, with the risk in social networks and videogames [where pornography also reaches]”.

And he proposes that, from the regional level, “filming of sexuality could be made without showing violence, submission, etc., well scripted and carried out, which could serve to answer the sexual curiosity that we humans have.

In a context outside the porn market”.

Contents that could be developed, for example, through affective-sexual education that has been included as mandatory for all educational stages both in the latest reform of the abortion law and in the law of only yes is

still They have not begun to be developed by the autonomies, which are the ones that have the competences in Education.

For the Ministry of Equality “non-consensual and violent pornography requires a comprehensive response that is not based solely on the Penal Code.

It is about sexual education being something transversal and in all areas of life”, sources from this department point out, alluding to these two norms, of which they were promoters, and to other public policies such as the State Strategy to combat sexist violence. 2022-2025, "so that sexual education, especially among minors, is not through pornography", because, they always insist, "sex education for adolescent boys and girls is the most effective measure to prevent and discourage consumption of pornography."

More information

Put 8-M in your bed (and on your Instagram)

This is what José Luis García, PhD in Psychology and co-director of the first university course for experts in preventing the effects of pornography, at the Rey Juan Carlos University, alludes to.

He says that from his experience, 45 years of work, he is "more in favor of training boys or girls from a very early age so that they learn to make decisions, in an argumentative way, and that they know what and where to look for if they have concerns or need stimulation. erotic”.

Without that, without education, in the classroom and at home, agrees the director of the non-profit association Dale Una Vuelta, Jorge Gutiérrez, children and adolescents are exposed to effects on their sexual, mental and emotional health.

This expert assures that they notice “how risky sexual behaviors are favored [such as not using a condom] and a tendency towards more dissatisfaction than satisfaction when trying to emulate the practices they see, since they distort sex;

and where, in addition, the woman is always the most harmed, sometimes reaching the point of violence”.

Regarding mental health, he affirms that "it can be a gateway to addictive behaviors."

"And most importantly, emotional [health]" is affected to the extent that "abusive consumption can cause relationships to be put aside, there is progressive isolation and one ends up locked in the consumption of porn."

In addition to being related, sometimes, to "a maladaptive emotional management of many boys to avoid emotional states such as loneliness, anxiety or anger, and they resort to its consumption to escape from that, and obtain immediate pleasure".

For him, “minors circulate on the Internet as if they were on a five-lane highway, and it is a question of establishing a regional road.

Isn't it going to be possible to avoid access to many places?

No, but some difficulty can be put, and some prevention barrier”.

You cannot make the billions of results that appear in less than a second disappear if you just enter the word “porn” in the search engine, but, at the very least, you can teach children and adolescents what they are going to find. among those billions of results.

Let them know why they have nothing to do with reality.

And what does sex have to do with it?

“With what doesn't appear in

says Ana Valero, “care, reciprocity, consent, empathy”.

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