The UK's Online Safety Act (OSA), which mandates age verification checks for internet access, has been in rollout for over a year, with mixed results. A new report by Internet Matters, based on a survey of 1,270 UK children (ages 9-16) and their parents, reveals that 46% of children find the checks easy to bypass, with 32% successfully doing so through creative means such as drawing fake moustaches, using someone else's login (9%), or entering fake birth dates (13%).

A notable example from the report includes a mother discovering her 12-year-old son using an eyebrow pencil to draw a moustache, which successfully verified him as 15 years old. Additionally, an 11-year-old girl reported seeing clips of people using video games to bypass the checks, a method personally verified by the author using Death Stranding's photo mode to deceive Discord's age verification.

Challenges with Age Verification Systems

Age verification systems face significant challenges. ID requests are seen as privacy invasions and pose data security risks, as evidenced by a Discord breach potentially exposing 70,000 age verification ID photos. Facial verification systems are also easily spoofed using video games or generative AI. Furthermore, 25% of parents have facilitated or ignored their children's bypassing of these checks (17% helped, 9% turned a blind eye).

Despite these bypasses, the report indicates somewhat positive views on the OSA's impact, with 90% of children wanting improved block/reporting processes, 77% seeking restrictions on contacts, and 74% wanting limited livestream/comment access. However, only 42% of children and 39% of parents believe the internet is safer post-OSA. Alarmingly, 49% of surveyed children still encounter harmful content, prompting 62% of parents to support a under-16 social media ban, a measure already implemented in Australia.

Implications and Future Directions

The core issue, as highlighted by the report, isn't age verification itself but its implementation, target demographic, and rationale. With the UK considering a similar under-16 social media ban as Australia, the effectiveness and methodology of these measures will be under scrutiny. The report underscores the need for more robust, privacy-conscious solutions to protect children online without undermining trust or facilitating harmful workarounds.