The Liberals want all new mobile phones to be sold with a preset porn filter as a way to protect children and young people from being exposed to pornographic content.
Critics believe that the filters are not working and can give adults a false security.
“At best, it is the most signal policy,” says Elza Dunkels, associate professor of educational work and researchers on young people’s internet use.
Today, there are parental control apps that adults can install to limit, among other things, which websites their children can search for. But the Liberals now want this type of filter to be pre -installed on all mobiles.
– We see today that children and young people are very exposed to porn. Through that, they get a very skewed view of sex and sexuality. There we think we need to find ways to access it, says Minister of Gender Equality and Working Life Paulina Brandberg (L).
Is already activated at the time of purchase
The proposal means that mobile phones should have the filters activated at the time of purchase, but that parents who want to be able to uninstall them. However, critics believe that the filter’s accuracy is inadequate and that they actually risk getting children and young people to find even more serious content.
– These filters are not perfect, but they sort out much of the material we do not want children and young people to be exposed to. Of course, I hope they will continue to develop and get better accuracy, but we still think it will be more difficult for children and young people to get into porn pages, says Paulina Brandberg (L).
Porn filters are criticized for not working
Elza Dunkels, associate professor of educational work and researchers on young people’s internet use, is critical of the idea of preset porn filters. She warns that parents can become too safe and miss that children need to talk about what they see online.
– This type of filter does not work at all, and then there is a risk that guardians will be weighed in a false security. At best, it is the most signal policy.
– In the worst case, it gets worse for children and young people, because adults may think they are protected even though something else is really required. In addition, research shows that children who are used to being online are often safer than those who are not, says Dunkels.