UK Social Media Ban May Lock Out More Than 100,000 Teenagers Without ID, Ofcom Warns

More than 100,000 British teenagers risk being locked out of social media in the UK if they do not have a passport or driving licence when an under-16 ban is introduced next year.

Ofcom, the UK's online watchdog, said about 150,000 16 to 17-year-olds do not own a passport or driving licence, which are likely to be needed to access age-restricted platforms.

The Australia-style ban on under-16s accessing social media services including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube is due to come into force next spring.

The head of Ofcom, Dame Melanie Dawes, warned that motivated children will seek to bypass the restrictions, as has been the case in Australia.

On Thursday, Ofcom published an assessment of age verification measures that could underpin the ban, outlining four highly effective methods: checking a person's official ID against a live selfie, a bank verifying an account holder's age, an official digital ID service like the Young Scot card, or estimating someone's age via a selfie.

However, the watchdog said a form of official ID will probably be needed as a backstop for other methods, such as facial age estimation, which could be inaccurate by several years. Ofcom said a cohort of 16 to 17-year-olds could miss out as a result.

The regulator said this meant that people without a form of photo ID will likely need to take steps to obtain one to access age-restricted services.

An estimated 150,000 16 to 17-year-olds do not have a passport or driving licence, Ofcom said, leaving a substantial number of teens at risk of being cut off by the ban. More than nine out of 10 Britons over 16 have passports or driving licences.

Facial age estimation has been a popular measure for enforcing over-18 access to pornographic websites in the UK, which have been subject to stringent age checks since last year, indicating that this method will be used by social media platforms as well.

The UK government has not confirmed which platforms will be affected by the ban but it is expected to cover the same sites as in Australia: Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X and YouTube.

In March, Australia's eSafety commissioner said a substantial proportion of Australian children under the age of 16 had flouted the ban since it was imposed in December last year. A survey of 900 Australian parents found around a third said their children still had one or more social media accounts after the law, compared with 49 percent before the laws.

Ofcom's chief executive acknowledged the risk of evasion and said the ban will be a huge cultural shift for the UK. Dawes said motivated children will seek to bypass the restrictions, just like alcohol laws cannot completely eradicate underage drinking, but there will be ways for platforms to mitigate this risk. It will take time to adjust, and everyone will have a part to play, she said.

The government is expected to introduce regulations confirming the ban by the end of the year, with Ofcom also opening a consultation on the best age verification methods before issuing official guidance on which measures to adopt.