Ofcom Says One-Third of Children Ages 8-17 Pretend to be Adults in Social Media

Research from UK media watchdog, Ofcom, found that one-third of children aged eight to 17 use falsified adult age in social media such as Instagram, as per TechCrunch.

These social media users aged eight to 17 sign up using a false birth date to have an online age of an adult, according to Ofcom. With this, they can access adult content on social media.

Ofcom Says One-Third of Children Ages 8-17 Pretend to be Adults in Social Media — NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images

Fake Age in Social Media Platforms Posits Greater Risk for Children

Children under 13 years of age are not permitted to sign up on many social media sites, such as Instagram. On the other hand, there is limited functionality for the accounts of those under 18 years of age.

However, children found a way to skirt the rules by faking their age on social media sites. They can simply sign up with a fake birth date and pretend that they are adults.

The fake age issue posits a greater risk. Since the social media platforms believe that they are adults already, there is a greater risk that the young social media users in the UK will be exposed to harmful or mature content.

"When a child self-declares a false age to gain access to social media or online games, as they get older, so does their claimed user age. This means they could be placed at greater risk of encountering age-inappropriate or harmful content online," said Ofcom.

Social media categorized its users by age. According to Anna-Sophie Harling from Ofcom, this has a huge impact on the content being shown to social media users, as per BBC.

"When we talk about potentially harmful content to under-18s, it's content that might have more significant negative consequences for under-18s because they're still developing," said Harling.

She further added that continuous exposure to certain pictures and videos containing particular images could make young users think and act differently about themselves and other people as well.

UK Pushes for Online Safety Bill

Six leading social media platforms were studied. These are Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, and YouTube. All of these platforms have age limits of 13.

The study revealed that 32% of children aged eight to 17 with a social media profile have a user age of 18 or over. Meanwhile, "47% of the children aged eight to 15 have a user age of 16 or over," as per BBC.

YouTube is the most popular site among children aged eight to 17. It was followed by TikTok and then Instagram. Based on the study, the account profile was set by the majority of the respondents.

UK is pushing for the Online Safety Bill. It is expected to be ratified in early 2023. But according to TechCrunch, the mandate of the bill is self-contradicting as it aims to promote safety in the online platform while maintaining free expression at the same time.

The online safety bill requires platforms to prevent children from having access to harmful content such as suicide and self-harm material. This should be done with systems that could include thorough age checks.