Social media companies could be ordered to use facial recognition technology to check children’s ages.
Millions of children could have their online profiles banned by the tech giants, under plans to be drawn up by online regulator Ofcom next spring.
Social media executives have been warned they could face huge fines and even prison sentences if they don’t follow guidelines aimed at ensuring their users are not underage.
Ofcom’s head of online safety policy John Higham said platforms are expected to remove children’s accounts from their sites by using “highly accurate and effective” AI age checks.
The regulator estimates that up to 60 percent of eight to eleven year olds have a social media profile, despite sites such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat having a minimum age of thirteen.
Mr Higham said more than a fifth of underage children on social media sites claim to be adults to set up profiles.
He told the Telegraph: ‘It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that children will lie about their age. So we think there is a big problem.”
Earlier this month, Ofcom published a new set of rules that will force social media companies to take action against illegal and harmful content to comply with the Online Safety Act.
Social media companies could be ordered to use facial recognition technology (stock image)
Social media executives have been warned they could face huge fines and even jail sentences if they don’t follow guidelines designed to ensure their users are not underage
Under the rules, which come into effect in the spring, Ofcom will have the power to fine tech companies that fail to protect children from online harm up to 10 percent of their global turnover and even jail executives for persistent offences.
Tech companies claim they have introduced stricter age checks in recent years, including scanning personal IDs, estimating facial age and asking a parent to confirm age.
However, Ofcom research reportedly found that most children said they had never been asked to confirm their age, with just 18 percent of Instagram users, 19 percent of TikTok users and 14 percent of Snapchat users saying that they had ever been asked to verify their age. date of birth.