UK social media ban may lock out more than 100,000 teenagers without ID

Watchdog says under-16 ban may affect older teenagers without passport or licence, and that ‘motivated children’ will skirt restrictions

More than 100,000 British teenagers risk being locked out of social media if they do not have a passport or driving licence when an under-16 ban is introduced next year.

Ofcom, the UK’s online watchdog, said about 150,000 16- to 17-year-olds do not own a passport or driving licence, which are likely to be needed to access age-restricted platforms.

The Australia-style ban on under-16s accessing social media services, including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, is due to come into force next spring.

The head of Ofcom, Melanie Dawes, said “motivated children” would seek to bypass the restrictions, as has happened in Australia.

On Thursday, Ofcom published an assessment of age verification measures that could underpin the ban, outlining four “highly effective” methods: checking a person’s official ID against a live selfie, a bank verifying an account holder’s age, an official digital ID service like the Young Scot card, or estimating someone’s age via a selfie.

However, the watchdog said a form of official ID would probably be needed as a “backstop” for other methods, such as facial age estimation, which could be inaccurate by several years. Ofcom said a cohort of 16- to 17-year-olds could miss out as a result.

“This means that people without a form of photo ID will likely need to take steps to obtain one to access age-restricted services,” the regulator said.

More than nine out of 10 Britons over 16 have passports or driving licences.

Facial age estimation has been a popular measure for enforcing over-18 access to pornographic websites in the UK, which have been subject to stringent age checks since last year, indicating that this method will be used by social media plaforms as well.

The UK government has not confirmed which platforms will be affected by the ban but it is expected to cover the same sites as in Australia. Those are: Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X and YouTube.

In March, Australia’s eSafety commissioner said a “substantial proportion” of under-16s had flouted the ban since it was imposed in December last year. A survey of 900 Australian parents found 31% said their children still had one or more social media accounts after the ban, compared with 49% before the laws.

Ofcom’s chief executive acknowledged the risk of evasion and said the ban would be a “huge cultural shift for the UK”.

“We should expect that motivated children will seek to bypass the restrictions – just like alcohol laws can’t completely eradicate underage drinking – but there’ll be ways for platforms to mitigate this risk,” said Dawes. “This will be a huge cultural shift for our society, so it’ll take time to adjust, and everyone will have a part to play.”

The government is expected to introduce regulations confirming the ban by the end of the year, with Ofcom also opening a consultation on the best age verification methods before issuing official guidance on which measures to adopt.