‘I did catch my son using an eyebrow pencil to draw a moustache on his face, and it verified him as 15 years old’: New report details the effects of the Online Safety Act thus far
The UK’s Online Safety Act, implemented over a year ago, requires websites to verify users’ ages before granting access to adult content using methods such as digital identification and facial analysis tools. However, a new report from Internet Matters based on a survey of 1,270 UK children aged 9-16 and their parents reveals that these safeguards are proving less effective than anticipated.
According to the report, a significant portion of children have found ways to circumvent the age verification measures through creative and often humorous methods. One notable example cited involves a parent discovering their child using an eyebrow pencil to draw a moustache on their face, which successfully fooled the facial analysis system into verifying them as 15 years old—effectively bypassing the age gate.
The findings highlight a growing gap between regulatory intent and real-world implementation of the Online Safety Act. While the legislation aimed to protect minors from accessing inappropriate content online, the report demonstrates that the current verification technologies can be easily defeated through simple visual tricks. The apparent ease with which children are bypassing these protections raises questions about whether the OSA’s initial approach to age verification is sufficiently robust, and whether alternative or additional safeguards may be needed to effectively achieve the Act’s protective goals.