Children first see online pornography aged just 13

New research involving young people aged 13 to 21 found that 64% of them had seen online pornography and that, of these, the average age of first exposure was 13.

Furthermore, 10% said they had seen porn for the first time at the age of nine and 27% at the age of 11.

The investigation by the Children’s Commissioner for England also reveals that 79% have encountered violent pornography by the time they are 18.

It warns too that Twitter is the most common place that young people see pornography (41%), followed by dedicated pornography sites (37%), Instagram (33%) and then Snapchat (32%).

The report is based on focus group work with teenagers aged 13 to 19 and a survey of 1,000 young people aged 16 to 21. It concludes: “We find that pornography exposure is widespread and normalised – to the extent that children cannot ‘opt-out’.”