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It's no secret that the United Kingdom is among the toughest regions when it comes to internet age verification laws. The Online Safety Act 2023 is a UK law that requires tech platforms to protect users, especially children, from certain online content, including through measures like age verification.
Websites and apps may ask users to take a short video or a guided selfie for facial age-estimation scans, upload a photo of their government-issued ID, run facial age-estimation scans, or verify through third-party services that cross-check personal data.
But according to a recent study (PDF) by Internet Matters, a London-based child online safety nonprofit, approximately one-third of UK children are bypassing age verification by using methods as simple as drawing a mustache with an eyebrow pencil.
As comedic as it sounds, these were actual responses to the study, which polled 1,000 UK children to gauge whether they were bypassing verification and how they were doing so. According to the study, 52% of children aged 13 and older said age verification was easy to bypass, while 41% of those aged 12 and under agreed. Roughly a third of all those polled said they had bypassed age verification before.
The methods are the real story. In the old days, kids could bypass age verification by clicking the "I'm 18" button on many websites. It's a little more complicated now, but children are adapting.
Some said they used clips of video game characters turning their heads to trick the verification tools. Other kids admit to using their parents' IDs or just surfing the internet for random pictures of adults when a photo upload was required. The age-old trick of lying about one's birthday was widely used. VPN use and borrowing an older sibling's or parent's device were also listed as ways kids bypassed age verification. Many kids simply asked their parents to bypass the verification for them.
Asking a parent to do it for them worked surprisingly well. The study says that "a quarter (26%) of parents have allowed their child to bypass age checks, with 17% helping their children and 9% allowing it or turning a blind eye." Parents who allowed their kids to bypass age checks told Internet Matters that they felt they understood the risks and were confident their kids would remain safe. This was typically for things like going live on TikTok, where the parents would be present to monitor, or allowing the kids to play video games with their friends.
Kids bypass the rules, but still like the changes
While the mustache method is amusing, the topic is serious. Nearly half of all children polled in the study said they'd been exposed to something harmful online in the last month, and over 90% said they appreciate the newer safety measures.
"I think it's good because it keeps us from viewing adult content, which is not going to be good for our mental health," said one girl quoted in the study.
According to Internet Matters, children still encounter harmful content at "unacceptable rates." Representatives of the group have called on the UK government to hold platforms responsible.
"Government must ensure existing legislation is properly enforced and hold both regulators and platforms to account where it is not," the organization said in a statement. "It must also address gaps in the law without delay -- we cannot wait for harm to occur. Regulation should also enable swift action against services that breach the law."
A representative for Ofcom, the government regulator, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
