Richard Hogan: Big companies are pornifying our children, why are we letting this happen?

Richard Hogan: It is incredible, almost incomprehensible, that the makers of this app are able to promote it as, âthe worldâs 1st Apple-approved porn app.â Apple have not approved it.
âJust when you thought it was safe to go back in the waterâ is the famous tagline from the 1978 movie Jaws 2, the sequel to Jaws.
I remember, as a child, reading this terrifying caption. The image of the woman swimming away carefree, not knowing a monster was about to devour her, played on my mind. Life feels a bit like that.
Something dreadful is lurking, waiting to emerge: Waiting to devour us all. Just when we thought big tech might finally be held accountable, Donald Trump wins the US presidency and all bets are off.
You can almost hear the sigh of relief, from Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow matcha-drinking tech oligarchs. They now have free rein in a space that was already the wild west.
Sometimes, you feel like youâre trying to keep the tide out with a spoon.
But Itâs no longer a tide, but a tsunami. And the spoon is getting smaller and smaller.
It is in moments like these that we need people to stand up. We need parents to take more control of what is happening to their children online.
We also need our politicians to have back bone, and not allow what is happening in the US to influence what happens in Europe, and Ireland.
The recent launch of a new pornography app on Apple should clearly signal the road ahead. It is important to acknowledge that Apple did not want this âHot Tubâ app for download on their store.
In fact, Steve Jobs would turn in his grave, because he was adamant that such content never be available through his product. He envisioned Apple as a family product.
Yet, here we are.
That one of the most powerful companies in the world is powerless in preventing explicit content being shared on its store tells us all we need to know about where this is going; and itâs nowhere good.
It also highlights the incredible lack of thought that goes in to some legislation that gets passed. Surely, a company has the right to decide whether or not they offer pornographic content to their customers?
Surely?
I understand the desire to reduce monopoly, but the fact that Apple have no way to stop this app from appearing on their store is frightening.
The minds behind the Digital Markets Act, which has forced Appleâs hand here, really need to look at the nuances of this EU mandate and explore concepts of company ethics, so that in their bid to make the market more open, they donât force companies to share content that is against their principles and company standards.
It just seems so obvious. How have they not considered this eventuality?
It is incredible, almost incomprehensible, that the makers of this app are able to promote it as âthe worldâs first Apple-approved porn appâ. Apple have not approved it.
They have been strong-armed to allow it on their store. There is a big difference.
No wonder Apple are outraged. We should all be outraged that EU law is forcing Apple to share this content.
The big question is: Will children download this app? I would think probably not.
Maybe some will, but most wonât. It is a difficult app to download, and children will not want any trace of pornography on their phones.
So that might prevent children from getting it. But it is the free availability of porn on your childâs phone that is the real issue.
An app is one thing.
But the free accessibility of hardcore extreme material is the real threat to our childrenâs wellbeing.
Why have we not yet developed a cogent and coherent strategy to prevent our children from being damaged by it? Why? I have heard all the talk, from passionate speakers.
But itâs just talk.
We are in the age of AI. If we wanted to, we could force these platforms to use AI tools to stop children accessing content that will harm them.
Look at what we could do when we wanted to stop the spread of covid.
Yet, stopping the spread of pornography among children is not something we are trying to prevent.
We do nothing on this issue. There is too much money to be made. Children after profit, it seems. We have so much gender-based violence and we wonder why? I donât think it takes a clinical psychologist to figure it out: The earlier you expose boys to dangerous concepts like, âgirls enjoy having consent taken from them, and to be choked and spat on as part of sexual desireâ, the more they will develop violent tendencies towards girls.
We want our boys to be sexually curious at a healthy age, and we want them to satiate that interest in normal ways.
To be sex positive is to be porn critical.
We are pornifying our children, and it looks like it isnât going to stop any time soon. And if Apple, one of the most powerful companies in the world, are unable to prevent this content from appearing on their store, whatâs next? I shudder to think.