One month ago, the UK saw the biggest
change to its online safety laws since
the creation of the internet. The new
rules requiring age verification and
algorithm changes are controversial, but
have they made any difference to our
online lives. We want to see if
teenagers are still being served harmful
content. So, we're setting up some fake
accounts registered to 15year-olds um
and we're going to see what we get
served. Okay. Okay. So, I'm just going
to search on Tik Tok for a couple of um
search terms that may bring up suicide
and self harm content.
The first search term has come up with
no videos. I've just searched for one
that is it's not a niche word. I think
pretty much everyone knows it's related
to this topic. Um, and it's brought up
some
really horrendous posts. The kind of
thing that should be hidden from
underage users now since these rules
came into force.
We also searched for another term and
were shown a mental health support page
with links to a helpline.
>> So that's exactly what should happen um
every time you search for something to
bring up this kind of content. Tik Tok
told us it has designed 70 plus features
and settings that support the safety and
well-being of teens and families on our
app. and we partner with organizations
such as Samaritans and the International
Association for Suicide Prevention to
bring well-being resources directly to
our community. We continually enforce
comprehensive community guidelines with
over 99% of violative content
proactively removed by Tik Tok. This
single account does not reflect the real
experience of a teen on our platform.
Yeah.
>> Although we found harmful content, a
group of teenagers we previously spoke
to before the rules came into force told
us they've now noticed a change.
>> So, I've definitely not seen uh violent
content anymore. I feel more clean in a
sort of way.
>> I can actually scroll on the internet
worry free of what's going to pop up.
>> I believe algorithms have been quite
tame in comparison to what they were
>> now. Like I don't have to worry about
seeing things I don't want to see. Like
they do that for me. The thing is,
adults use the internet, too. And these
new age verification rules seem to have
changed the way they surf the web. Not
everyone's happy about it.
>> We all want children to be safe online,
but I don't think those benefits
outweigh the significant cost. No other
liberal democracy has taken steps like
this in this kind of way. Uh, so no, I I
think there are ways to talk about child
safety online without embracing this
approach to the internet, which treats
everyone as a child by default. Data
given to Sky News by Similar Web showed
that between the 19th of July and 15th
of August, there was a 45% drop in the
number of UK users to Pornhub, the
country's most popular pornography site.
And even pornography based forums took a
hit. Subreddits linked to bondage
discipline sadism and massochism or
BDSM, for example, are experiencing 12%
fewer visits from the UK than before the
new rules were introduced. At the same
time as age checks were introduced,
Google searches for VPNs, virtual
private networks that mask users
locations skyrocketed.
So just one month in, these new rules
have already changed how many people
browse the internet. The government has
described them as a first step in online
safety. The question is how much further
will they go? Mickey Carroll, Sky News.