News NI political reporter
Getty ImagesChildren are gaining access to “vile” pornography through social media platforms, the head of Northern Ireland’s child safeguarding organisation has told MPs.
Bernie McNally said the problem was “just beyond belief” and called for greater intervention in schools and local communities.
The chair of the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland was speaking at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee as MPs held an evidence session on tackling violence against women and girls.
She said their research suggested “kids as young as nine” were accessing pornography, and its availability had been “normalised” by some social media platforms.
The committee was also told that many women surveyed in Northern Ireland have withdrawn from public participation in online spaces as a result of “online violence”.
Olga Jurasz, a professor of law at the Open University and director of the Centre for Protecting Women Online, told MPs that those silencing effects are particularly deeply felt for women in Northern Ireland.
She said the issue of violence against women and girls has been “amplified through technology”.
“Misogyny in particular has been popularised – we witness it every day – and it has also been monetised. Quite simply, it is for profit,” she added.
‘Some is down to influencers’
PA MediaNews NI has contacted X, Snapchat, TikTok and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, for comment on Bernie McNally’s remarks.
Snapchat guidelines prohibit users from sharing, promoting or distributing sexually explicit content, including pornography.
Earlier, Ms McNally told the committee that “some kids in school are asking their teacher how do you choke a woman”.
She said that girls between the ages of 16 and 18 who are sexually active were “all reporting being choked during sex”.
“So something has changed to normalise this and for young people, and some of it can be down to influencers,” she added.
Alliance Party MP Sorcha Eastwood raised the case of Alexander McCartney, a man from Northern Ireland who was jailed for extreme online sexual abuse of children and the manslaughter of a 12-year-old girl.
She told the committee that during a meeting with representatives of social media companies before Christmas, “not a single one” had heard of the McCartney case.
“And we are expected to believe that these platforms can keep our children safe online,” she added.
Jessica Smith, from the broadcast and internet regulator Ofcom, responded: “Well, that’s absolutely shocking that they hadn’t heard of the case. I’m astounded by that.”
