Young Scots 'regularly see porn, suicide and self-harm content' online
Young people in Scotland regularly see pornography, suicide and self-harm content on the internet, a children's charity has warned, as it urged ministers to take further action.
Children First said no one should shy away from “the stark picture of the overwhelming levels of danger that children face on screens”. It called on the UK and Scottish governments to work together “to tackle these deep rooted problems” through a public health approach.
Under the Online Safety Act, sites that host pornographic material must use age checks.
The charity spoke out after Ofcom published a report on “content harmful to children” online. It found most children in the UK said they had encountered at least one piece of harmful content in a four-week period.
“Exposure to harmful content can have serious impacts on children’s mental and physical wellbeing,” it said.
The UK government has previously said a social media ban for under-16s will come into force from March next year.
Linda Jardine, director of children and family services at Children First, said: “None of us should shy away from the stark picture of the overwhelming levels of danger that children face on screens painted by this latest Ofcom report.
“Young people, who we are supported to contribute to the report, said they regularly see content about pornography, suicide and self-harm and that content in relation to bullying, hate, abuse, violence, harmful substances and encouraging dangerous stunts and challenges is ‘everywhere’.
“Ensuring that the Online Safety Act accurately reflects the types and severity of content that children see online is crucial, but unless the level of exposure is reduced, children will continue to experience significant harm to their physical and emotional health, wellbeing, relationships and development.
“We need the UK and Scottish governments to work together to tackle these deep rooted problems through a public health approach that supports healthier relationships with technology, reduces reliance on screens and promotes safe, trusted connections offline."
Ofcom’s report - the first since the Online Safety Act 2023 was passed - found there was “no significant change in the proportion of children encountering harmful content over the first nine months after the children’s safety duties came into force in July 2025”.
However, it found “highly effective age assurance” was helping to prevent children from accessing pornography. Older children and boys are more likely than younger children and girls to report encountering pornographic content, it said.
Girls are more likely than boys to report encountering suicide and self-harm content.
“Evidence indicates that encountering suicide content and self-harm content is linked to encountering other kinds of content harmful to children, particularly hate content and bullying content,” the report said.
Elsewhere, it found children from minority ethnic groups, those with health conditions, children with low wellbeing, older children and girls were all more likely to report encountered eating disorder content.
It found online bullying among children is “a serious concern”, adding: “In engagement sessions, children in England and Scotland spoke about the prevalence of bullying content on user-to-user services. Children most commonly report encountering bullying content via personalised feeds, online games, and group chats.”
The report said children continue to report “encountering violent content, and to a lesser extent content featuring animal abuse, on user-to-user services, via direct messaging, comments sections and most commonly via personalised feeds”.
