Ofcom outlines ways social media can verify ages of users

Ofcom has set out its recommendations for the most effective ways to identify which of the UK's millions of social media users are aged over 16.

Under the UK's social media ban - which is due to come into force in March next year - those under that age will be prevented from accessing ten of the biggest platforms, including Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

Many UK adults are also likely to have to confirm that they are not under-age by using one of the proposed measures, which are subject to government approval.

A similar ban was introduced in Australia last year but many children there have found ways to get round it. The UK says it intends to take a tougher approach.

Age verification below 18 is challenging because 16 and 17 year olds don't have credit cards or full driving licences, and may not have passports either. They can also look significantly older or younger than they are.

To address that challenge, Ofcom has - in addition to traditional forms of ID - recommended four methods that it says would be "highly effective" at gauging people's ages:

• photo ID matching, where relevant information on a photo ID document such as a passport is checked against a live image taken during an age check

• banking-based checks, which involves using the information a financial institution has on record regarding a user's age

• face age estimation technology (which the regulator argues has recently improved)

• digital ID services, which enable people to digitally prove who they are or provide information about themselves, such as their age

The BBC has asked three of the UK's biggest banks whether they would have a process for assisting with social media requests for age verification if it did become an official measure.

However, ultimately it will be up to the tech companies to figure out how to implement the checks: the onus is on social network providers to come up with their own solutions and comply.

Ofcom CEO Dame Melanie Dawes said the regulator was drawing on its experience in introducing tougher age checks for porn sites last year:

"What we've learned in introducing age checks across the porn industry is that actually what a lot of countries did before us was say you need to do it this way and they were very prescriptive and it didn't work," she told the BBC.

"So what we've said all along is here are things that can work, they must preserve privacy, they must protect people's data, but it's on you to put in place what you think works for you."

Some of the tech companies, including Meta, have called for age verification to be applied at device level, so that someone under-age would be automatically blocked from installing social media apps via app stores.

This would place responsibility with Apple and Google, who between them operate most of the world's smartphones. Apple has already introduced age verification in the UK.

However Ofcom says that would not absolve the social network providers from doing their own checks as well.

The regulator said it didn't have a firm number for how many adults would need to prove they were not under age, but conceded that it would be a "large number of accounts" that social media companies would need to "deal with."

It has also acknowledged that "the risk of circumvention cannot be entirely eliminated", and some children would succeed in bypassing the age checks.

Dawes said making the ban work would be a joint effort.

"At Ofcom, what we will do is make sure that the services that the social media companies put in the checks that they need to," she told BBC News.

"That's our job, but the wider question about how everybody engages with this, it is for everybody, really.

"I actually think the real prize here is going to be for today's eight to 10-year-olds entering secondary school without it being the norm to go on Snap in your class group chat, without it being the norm to have all your sports fixtures organised on Instagram."

Ofcom's age verification report will now be considered by the government, with a decision due by the end of the year.