Social media giants urged to increase age verification for under-13 users

Leading tech giants face calls to enhance age verification for children under 13 in the UK, akin to those required for adult-oriented services.

Media regulator Ofcom and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) have reached out to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Roblox, and X.

These companies have been urged to improve measures to safeguard younger users online.

Ofcom's Chief Executive, Melanie Dawes, expressed concerns that services are neglecting to prioritize children's protection in their offerings.

Defending their existing protections, YouTube's parent company Google criticized Ofcom's approach, suggesting a focus on more hazardous services instead.

However, both bodies emphasise the need for social networks to better prevent under-13s from creating accounts.

Most services currently rely on users to self-report their ages when signing up.

"Self-reporting allows underage users to easily bypass age restrictions on platforms not intended for them," the ICO remarked in its open letter to social media and video service providers.

Despite the typical 13-year minimum age for social networks, Ofcom's findings show 86% of 10-12-year-olds have their own social profiles.

Ofcom is advocating for highly effective age verification, currently mandated by law only for certain age-restricted content.

For social media for young users, tech companies would need to take voluntary steps to introduce such rigorous checks.