Some technology companies, including Meta, are urging policymakers to introduce age verification at the device level, allowing Apple and Google to automatically prevent minors from installing social media apps through app stores. However, Ofcom says device-level checks would not remove social media providers’ responsibility to carry out their own age verification, and acknowledges that some children will evade the safeguards.
Device-level age checks would shift responsibility to Apple and Google
Apple and Google operate most of the world’s smartphones, putting them at the centre of proposals to block minors from downloading social media apps. Apple has already introduced age verification in the UK.
Ofcom said this measure would not exempt social network providers from conducting their own checks. The regulator also said there was no fixed figure for how many adults would need to prove that they were not minors, while acknowledging that social media companies would have to “accommodate” a “large number of accounts”.
Ofcom acknowledges that age-check evasion will continue
The regulator said “the risk of evasion cannot be completely eliminated” and accepted that some children will successfully bypass age checks.
Dawes said a collective effort would be needed to make the ban effective.
“At Ofcom, we’re going to make sure that social media companies tick the boxes for the services they need,” she told BBC News.
“That’s our job, but the broader question of how everyone approaches this is really important to everyone.
“In fact, the real kudos here would be for today’s 8- to 10-year-olds entering middle school, where snaps in class group chats are no longer the norm, and having all their sports schedules organized on Instagram is no longer the norm.”
Ofcom’s age verification report will now be considered by the government, which is expected to make a decision by the end of the year.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk