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Ofcom Sets Highly Effective Age Checks for UK Under-16s Social Media Ban
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Ofcom outlines "highly effective" age verification methods for under-16 ban. The ban blocks under-16s from platforms including Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat.
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Age checks for under-16s
Ofcom set out recommendations for identifying which of the UK's millions of social media users are aged over 16 ahead of a social media ban for under-16s due to come into force in March next year. Ofcom said it would recommend four methods that it says would be "highly effective" at gauging people's ages: photo ID matching, banking-based checks, digital ID services, and facial age estimation technology.
Ofcom CEO Dame Melanie Dawes said the regulator learned from introducing age checks across the porn industry, telling the BBC: "what we've said all along is here are things that can work, they must preserve privacy, they must protect people's data, but it's on you to put in place what you think works for you." Ofcom also said it did not have a firm number for how many adults would need to prove they were not under age, but conceded it would be a "large number of accounts" that social media companies would need to "deal with."
Circumvention and shared responsibility
Ofcom warned that the "risk of circumvention cannot be entirely eliminated" and that some children would succeed in bypassing the age checks. Ofcom said social media firms could reduce the risk by making it easier to report suspected underage accounts or by using technology that estimates a user's age from their online behaviour, and it said it would consult on further guidance once regulations are laid.
Dame Melanie Dawes said the ban "can work if social media firms do highly effective age checks properly, and we've set out ways that could be achieved" while pointing to how "motivated" children will try to get around the rules. Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, set up in memory of 14-year-old Molly Russell, said he had little confidence the ban could be delivered successfully, adding: "If the ban is to be enforced by the same failing regulator and with the same insufficient powers, we should expect the same dismal results we've seen in Australia."
What happens next
Ofcom said its age verification report would now be considered by the government, with a decision due by the end of the year, and it said ministers are expected to introduce regulations confirming the ban by the end of the year with plans for the rules to come into effect in 2027. The BBC reported that the onus is on social network providers to come up with their own solutions and comply, even as some tech companies including Meta called for age verification to be applied at device level.
Ofcom said it was "inevitable" some under-16s would get around the checks, and it warned that some facial recognition technology could be inaccurate by several years, meaning some users would have to do a second check. Ofcom estimated that about 150,000 16 and 17-year-olds are likely to have neither a licence nor a passport, limiting options to prove their age as the UK prepares to implement the ban for under-16s.