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It is no secret that The UK is among the most difficult regions When it comes to internet age verification laws. The Online Safety Act 2023 is a British law that requires tech platforms to protect users, especially children, from certain online content, including through measures such as age verification.
Websites and apps may ask users to take a short video or instructional selfie for facial age scans, upload a photo of their government-issued ID, run facial age scans, or verify through third-party services that verify personal data.
But according to Recent study (PDF) By Internet Matters, a London-based non-profit organization concerned with children’s online safety, nearly a third of UK children avoid age verification using simple methods such as drawing a mustache with an eyebrow pencil.
Although it sounds comedic, these were actual responses to the study, which surveyed 1,000 children in the UK to gauge whether and how they skip verification. According to the study, 52% of children aged 13 and above said that it is easy to bypass age verification, while 41% of children aged 12 and under agreed. Nearly a third of all those surveyed said they had passed age verification before.
The methods are the real story. In the past, children could bypass age verification by clicking the “I’m 18” button on many websites. It’s a little more complicated now, but the kids are adapting.
Some said they used clips of video game characters turning their heads to fool verification tools. Other children admit to using their parents’ identities or just surfing the Internet for random photos of adults when a photo upload is required. The old trick of lying about one’s birthday has been widely used. Using a VPN and borrowing an older sibling’s or parent’s device were also listed as ways for kids to bypass age verification. Many children have simply asked their parents to go through the verification process for them.
Asking a parent to do this for them worked surprisingly well. “A quarter of parents (26%) allowed their children to bypass age verification checks, with 17% helping their children and 9% allowing or turning a blind eye,” the study says. Parents who allowed their children to bypass age checks told Internet Matters that they felt they understood the risks and were confident their children would remain safe. This was usually for things like live streaming on TikTok, where parents would be present to monitor, or letting kids play video games with their friends.
Children bend the rules, but they still like changes
Although the mustache style is amusing, the topic is serious. Nearly half of the children surveyed in the study said they had been exposed to something harmful online in the past month, and more than 90% said they appreciated the latest safety measures.
One of the girls in the study said: “I think it’s a good thing because it prevents us from watching adult content, which wouldn’t be good for our mental health.”
According to Internet Matters, children are still encountering harmful content at “unacceptable rates.” Representatives of the group called on the UK government to hold the platforms accountable.
“The government must ensure that current legislation is properly implemented and hold regulators and platforms accountable when it is not implemented,” the organization said in a statement. “It must also address loopholes in the law without delay – we cannot wait for the damage to be done. Regulation must also enable swift action against services that break the law.”
A representative of Ofcom, the government regulator, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.