More than half of children have attempted to bypass online age checks, with almost two in five succeeding, according to new government research highlighting the challenges of protecting young people online.
The study, commissioned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), found that 53% of children aged 11 to 17 had tried to get around at least one age assurance check, while 39% said they had successfully done so.
The findings come a year after child safety duties under the Online Safety Act came into force, requiring platforms to introduce more effective age assurance measures to prevent children accessing harmful content.
Researchers found that many children actively sought ways to avoid age checks. More than half said they had deliberately chosen websites, apps or games because they either had no age verification or because the checks were easy to circumvent.
Pretending to be older was by far the most common method. Around 63% of those who had bypassed age checks said they had posed as someone else, most commonly by entering a false date of birth. A smaller proportion used tools or settings to disguise their location online.
The report also found that virtual private networks (VPNs) were widely used by children. Around 26% said they had used a VPN at some point, rising to almost a third of 16 and 17-year-olds. While many used the technology for privacy or to access content from other countries, 22% of VPN users said they used one specifically to access age-restricted websites, apps or games.
Children who had used VPNs were significantly more likely to bypass age checks successfully. More than half (56%) of VPN users reported successfully getting around age restrictions, compared with one-third of children who had never used a VPN. Among those who had set up a VPN themselves, the success rate rose to 71%.
The research also suggests that bypassing age checks can increase children’s exposure to harmful material. Among those who had circumvented age restrictions, 51% said they had encountered at least one type of harmful content afterwards, including explicit sexual content, contact from unknown adults and requests for personal information. Overall, one in five children reported encountering harmful content after bypassing age checks.
Despite this, researchers found children were aware of the risks. Instead of moral arguments, the strongest deterrents were practical consequences, with many saying they would be discouraged by age checks that were harder to defeat, the threat of permanent account bans or parents being notified if they attempted to bypass restrictions.
The study concludes that while advanced forms of age verification, such as facial age estimation and government ID checks, are generally viewed by children as more effective than simple tick boxes or date-of-birth declarations, significant numbers of young people continue to find ways around online safeguards, underlining the ongoing challenge for regulators and technology companies in keeping children safe online.
The full research can be read here.
Photo: Ed Webster
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