Dr. Mary Aiken:

That is a good question. We hope that in the consultation process the departmental officials will speak to colleagues in France and Germany and examine the rationale behind that. That is a question for the Department of Justice and Equality because we are not privy to all its consultations. Germany has adopted a protective stance for a long time regarding what is deemed to be a child. The age of a child is 14. The Internet content governance report points out that Germany has active take-down notices for self-harm content, forcing ISPs to take down content and cutting sites. A cutting site is a site whereby if a child posts a fresh GIF or short video of bleeding when he or she has just cut himself or herself, he or she will get "likes" for that. It is despicable that young children are exposed to this content online.

With regard to an eating disorder, if an 11 year old suddenly says, "I am too fat" or "I hate my body and I am going to starve myself", that child will not get any support at home or in school, but if he or she goes to these sites, he or she will discover an entire community who will say, "Not only is 6 stone too heavy, you should be 4 stone". I do not use the word lightly but this is evil online in terms of targeting children and we have to do everything we can to protect the child.