7 in 10 Britons support age verification for online porn, claims YouGov

• Just over one in five (22%) are opposed to the recent introduction of rules requiring age verification to access websites that may contain pornographic material

• However, only a quarter (24%) think the new rules will be effective at preventing those younger than 18 from gaining access to pornography

• A quarter (26%) have encountered these new restrictions while trying to access content in the past week

Last Friday saw new rules from the Online Safety Act come into place, requiring pornography websites and others that might contain adult content to verify that users are over the age of 18.    

New YouGov polling today shows that, in the six days since the rules came into force, one in four Britons (26%) have encountered the new restrictions while browsing.

A large majority of people (69%) say they support the new rules, including 46% who do so “strongly”. Before the introduction of the rules, support had stood at 80% (although this was with a slightly different question wording that specified “pornography websites” only, whereas today’s poll asks about “websites that may contain pornographic material.”)

Although young people are more likely to oppose the measures, a large majority of still support them:

Support for the measures comes in spite of the fact that the public are even less likely to think the new rules will actually work than they were before the changes came into effect. Now only 24% of Britons think the restrictions will be effective in preventing under-18s from accessing pornography online, down from 34% last week.