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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
Anthony France and Nicholas Cecil

Fears Bonnie Blue’s ‘porn show’ can be watched on Channel 4 by children despite age-check rules

Bonnie Blue says she sleeps with the ‘barely legal or breathing’ - (Bonnie / Blue Instagram)

The policing minister will raise concerns over children being able to watch Channel 4’s Bonnie Blue documentary with “a single click”.

Dame Diana Johnson was forced to defend the Online Safety Act in its first week after Nigel Farage pledged to scrap it if Reform UK were to get into power.

The broadcaster’s film explores polarising Blue’s rise to fame as an OnlyFans model and adult content creator and can be easily viewed on demand.

Dame Diana was asked by Times Radio’s Chloe Tilley whether they were wrong to show 1,000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story which contains graphic sex scenes as 6,000 porn sites have to implement age verification checks.

Dame Diana said: “That’s an important question that is worth considering.”

She added: “As to the issue of Channel 4, I am very happy to go away and consider that.

“I haven’t actually clicked on in the way that you just suggested is available, but I’m very happy to do that and to look and to raise it with the technology secretary, Peter Kyle.”

On Tuesday Kyle said Farage was on the side of “people like Jimmy Savile”.

Bonnie Blue claims to have slept with more than 1,000 men in 12 hours (Rob Parfitt / Channel 4)

The Reform leader labelled Kyle’s remarks as “below the belt” and “so absolutely disgusting that it’s almost beyond belief”.

Later, Shadow Home Office minister Katie Lam was asked by Times Radio presenter Peter Cardwell: “Channel 4 have this documentary on Bonnie Blue.

“Can you have a credible online safety system when you can go on the app of Channel 4 and see pornography available to anyone who wants to watch it?”

Lam replied: “There’s clearly a consistency problem, both in terms of content and in terms of platform”, before saying: “It seems bizarre to me.”

Blue - whose real name is Tia Billinger - achieved notoriety last year after claiming that she had slept with more than 1,000 men in 12 hours.

Critics accuse her of predatory behaviour towards young men and perpetuating misogynistic ideology by making outlandish content with the “barely legal or breathing”.

Channel 4 said its streaming has industry-standard controls to help ensure age-inappropriate content is not accessible to viewers under the age of 18.

A spokesman added: “To be able to access programming on our streaming service, a person must have a Channel 4 account.

“Registration requires users to be 16 or older and the programme was restricted to viewers that are 18+.

“Channel 4 streaming is also equipped with parental controls that allow viewers to set a PIN on their account to restrict access to content to 18+ rated content. This is standard practice across all main streaming platforms.

“Careful consideration has been given to the content and the way in which it is included, and the final programme is compliant with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.

“The explicit content in the documentary is editorially justified and provides essential context; making pornographic content is Bonnie’s job, and this film is about her work and the response to it.

“Crucially, the content is presented in a non-gratuitous and in part partially pixelated manner, and viewers are alerted to the sexual content with appropriate warnings to ensure they understood from the outset the nature of the programme.”

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