Children Drawing Fake Moustaches To Evade Online Age Verification Checks In UK
Report shows UK children use fake details to bypass age checks on social media and adult sites
· www.ndtv.comShow
Quick Read
Summary is AI-generated, newsroom-reviewed
- Children in the UK use fake details to bypass online age verification on social media and gaming sites
- Over a third of 1,000 surveyed children admitted to bypassing age checks on online platforms
- Nearly half of children reported recent encounters with harmful online content
Did our AI summary help?
Let us know.
Switch To Beeps Mode
Children in the UK are drawing fake moustaches and entering fake birthdays to bypass the online age gates to access social media and gaming platforms, a new report by online safety organisation Internet Matters has found. Under the UK's Online Safety Act, all pornographic sites, social media and online platforms are required to age verify the users to avoid children logging onto them. Social media websites usually require children to be at least 13, and users of pornographic sites must be over 18.
As per the study involving 1,000 UK children, more than a third had found a way around the age verification measures. 46 per cent said they believed age checks are easy to bypass, while 32 per cent admitted to having done so.
“I did catch my son using an eyebrow pencil to draw a moustache on his face, and it verified him as 15 years old," one of the parents of a 12-year-old, having witnessed their child evade the age verification system. Researchers also found 49 per cent of children said they had encountered harmful content online recently.
“Children continue to encounter harmful content at unacceptable rates, while age verification measures are often ineffective in practice or easy to bypass,” it said.
“Government must ensure existing legislation is properly enforced and hold both regulators and platforms to account where it is not. It must also address gaps in the law without delay.”
Consultations Underway
Having already imposed age verification systems, the British government is now mulling an Australia-style ban on under-16s accessing social media. More than 60 Labour backbench MPs and opposition Conservative Party members have come out in support of the ban.
A consultation is already underway with UK technology secretary, Liz Kendall, stating that there were "strongly different views" on whether it was the right way to go. The consultation framework includes discussion about tackling features such as disappearing messages and livestreaming, which could enable harms such as grooming and harassment.
Additionally, the focus is on age-gating 'addictive' features like infinite scrolling, autoplay and push notifications that keep users connected to the devices.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
Follow us:
Online Age Verification, UK Children Online Safety, Social Media Age Checks