Ofcom, the British telecommunications regulator, has just published a study in which it states that approximately 1 out of 3 children or adolescents aged 8 to 17 is present on social networks as an adult.
This may not come as much of a surprise, given the low barriers to entry of social networks, but the study conducted by Ofcom, the equivalent of ARCEP and ARCOM for our neighbors across -Manche, has the merit of putting figures on an alarming situation. The British regulator, which reports that a majority of young people use at least one of the major platforms, also shows us that a third of children aged 8 to 17 and attesting to having a profile on social media provide adulthood when registering, precisely to circumvent these too low barriers to entry.
Already present en masse on social networks, many children lie about their real age
Most of the major social platforms (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and others) are theoretically prohibited for children under 13. But, like the excesses caused by pornographic sites, social networks do not ask a future user to prove their age to finalize the registration process. In most cases, all he has to do is click on a button or give a year of birth, completely arbitrarily of course.
Several factors can cause concern. First, there is the proportion of young people (aged 8 to 17) who have their own profile on one or more social networks. It has reached 77% today.
60% of children aged 8 to 12 are registered on these platforms with their own profile. They are also almost as likely to have created their own profile(s) as to have benefited from the help of a close friend or relative.
Some platforms are restricted in terms of functionality if the age entered is too low
Ofcom states that 32% of children aged 8 to 17 actually use a profile pretending to be an adult (therefore indicating that they are over 18). 47% of children in the 8-15 age group report an age of 16 or over.
What constitutes a kind of misleading statement exposes more, in fact, all of these children and adolescents to the risk of having unfortunate encounters on the networks. This calls out, especially since they are already not immune to having a bad encounter with a user age under 18.
Some social media restrict access to their platforms to features such as the ability to view adult content or direct messaging, as soon as the user certifies that they are under 16 or 18 years old. But from the moment the Internet user provides a real age much higher than his own, there is absolutely no protective barrier, since he was able to register without having to prove his age.
While in France, only porn sites are officially in the sights of ARCOM, the competent authority in the matter, the United Kingdom could very quickly question the mechanisms put in place by each platform to verify age users.
Source : Ofcom
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