Asger Risom
Nearly half of surveyed children said online age checks were easy to bypass, with some reportedly fooling verification systems using fake birthdays, video game avatars and even hand-drawn mustaches.
The UK’s stricter online age verification rules are already running into a familiar problem: children are finding ways around them almost immediately.
A new report from UK online safety group Internet Matters found that many children see age checks less as a genuine barrier and more as a minor inconvenience, with some reportedly bypassing systems using fake birthdays, borrowed IDs, video game avatars — and even hand-drawn mustaches.
Easy to fool
The findings come months after the UK introduced tougher online protections under the Online Safety Act, legislation designed to limit children’s access to harmful or adult content.
But according to Internet Matters, nearly half of surveyed children said the systems are easy to bypass. The organization surveyed more than 1,000 children and parents across the UK.
Around 46% of children said age checks were easy to circumvent, while only 17% considered them difficult to fool. Nearly a third admitted they had already bypassed restrictions themselves, as written in The Register.
Some of the methods described were surprisingly low-tech. Children reported entering fake birthdays, using someone else’s ID card, or tricking facial age-detection systems with altered appearances.
In some cases, children said simply drawing a fake mustache on their face was enough to fool verification software.
Others reportedly used video game characters or avatars during selfie verification checks to bypass systems designed to estimate age using facial analysis.
AI moderation struggles
The findings highlight growing concerns about how reliable AI-driven age detection systems actually are, particularly as governments increasingly push platforms to automate moderation and access controls.
Many online age verification tools rely on facial estimation models trained to identify approximate age ranges through selfies or live camera checks. But critics have repeatedly warned these systems remain highly inconsistent and vulnerable to manipulation.
The report suggests that younger users are rapidly learning how the technology works — and where its weaknesses lie.
Researchers also found that harmful content continues reaching children regardless of whether age gates are bypassed directly. Nearly half of surveyed children said they had recently encountered harmful material online.
That raises broader questions about whether age verification alone can realistically control what recommendation algorithms surface across social media feeds and video platforms.
Parents helping too
The report also found that enforcement often breaks down inside the home itself.
According to Internet Matters, 17% of parents admitted actively helping their children bypass age checks, while another 9% said they were aware of it but chose not to intervene.
Some parents told researchers they believed supervised access was safer than completely restricting content, arguing they understood the risks and trusted their children’s judgment.
The findings mirror wider concerns that digital safety laws may struggle to work in practice unless both platforms and families consistently enforce them.
Internet Matters CEO Rachel Huggins said stronger action was needed from both governments and technology companies to build protections directly into platforms rather than reacting after harm occurs.
Bigger questions ahead
The report arrives as governments across Europe continue expanding online safety legislation, often relying heavily on automated moderation and AI-based verification systems.
Critics of the UK’s Online Safety Act have already argued that many of the proposed protections are technologically unreliable, easy to evade, or potentially harmful to privacy.
At the same time, regulators face mounting pressure to demonstrate that platforms are genuinely preventing children from accessing harmful content rather than simply adding superficial compliance systems.
The latest findings suggest many young users already understand the difference.
Sources: The Register, Internet Matters
