Evidence continues to emerge that children are being subjected to pornography at increasingly younger ages, due mostly to accidental exposure on social media sites that do not enforce restrictions on user-posted pornography.
A startling report published in August by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in the United Kingdom surveyed 1,020 teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16 and 21. The survey found that 70% of respondents said they had viewed online porn, a substantial increase from the 63% when the survey was last taken in 2023. The data further showed that the age in which children are being exposed continues to get younger, with 13 being the average age of first viewing porn, and over a quarter (27%) saying that they first saw porn at age 11. A number of respondents even indicated that they had seen pornography at age “6 or younger.”
The report went on to reveal that the majority of minors (59%) are being exposed to porn by accident via social media platforms — a rate that has surged since 2023 when it stood at 38%. According to the data, X is by far the leading platform that is exposing children at 45%, with Snapchat at 29%, Instagram at 23%, and TikTok at 22%. Other sites that respondents reported exposure on were Reddit, YouTube, WhatsApp, Discord, and Facebook, among others.
The report further noted that X is increasingly accounting for more porn exposure than dedicated porn sites. “X now accounts for 10% points more exposure than dedicated pornography sites (45% vs. 35%) in 2025, compared to only 4% points in 2023 (41% vs. 37%),” it stated.
X’s website claims that it has “measures in place” to ensure that the experience of those under age 18 who use the platform “is safe and secure.” X goes on to claim that “consensually produced and shared adult pornography” is restricted from being viewed by “known minors.” “We restrict viewers who are under 18, or who do not include a birth date on their profile, from viewing adult content,” the social media site states. Clearly, however, these measures are not preventing children from seeing porn on X.
Dame Rachel De Souza, the U.K.’s children’s commissioner, wrote in the introduction to the report that the findings are “among the most sobering my office has ever published. It paints a stark picture of what childhood looks like in 2025 with an online world that is, in many ways, completely unfit for children.”
Other experts like Dr. Marcel van der Watt, who serves as president and CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, concur.
“The report confirms that children are being exposed to pornography at very young ages and that it is no longer a matter of if they will be exposed, it’s a matter of when,” he told The Washington Stand. “Pornography is inherently harmful to children — not only is it disruptive to their overall development, it can lead to child-on-child, high-risk, and compulsive sexual behaviors, among other harms. Pornography sites depict the worst kind of human sexual behavior, such as sexual assault, rape, child sexual abuse, image-based sexual abuse, and sexual violence.”
Van der Watt continued, “Social media companies are frequently the gateway to pornography — a fact re-confirmed by this study. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation advocates for age verification, device filter legislation, and the App Store Accountability Act as part of a multi-layered approach for protecting kids from pornography. We continue to urge tech platforms to confront children’s ability to access pornography.”
“Protecting children shouldn’t fall entirely on parents; however, they are in the best position to teach their children what to do if they stumble upon pornography,” van der Watt added. “Parents also need to fight back and raise their voices in favor of holding tech platforms and pornography sites accountable.”
Mary Szoch, who serves as the director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, told TWS that parents should not allow their children to access social media.
“There is nothing good about pornography — its creation involves abuse, and aside from making the consumer a partaker in this abuse, its consumption completely alters a person’s brain and robs the consumer of the ability to love,” she observed. “Exposing children to pornography is a horrific form of child abuse — one that often leads to life-altering addiction.”
Szoch continued, “Those who enable this should be held accountable. Pornography websites should be banned, but until they are, actual age verification laws should be passed to lower the chance of a child’s exposure. For parents, no child should have access to social media. Pornography is just one of the many dangerous aspects of social media. Because a child’s brain is still developing, giving a child access to a social media account is akin to introducing that child to drugs.”
“Parents should do everything in their power to make sure it doesn’t happen,” Szoch concluded.
