Story perspectives

Kids Use Fake Moustaches to Beat UK Age Checks

5/6/2026

Summary

Story summary

Children drew fake moustaches to fool facial-recognition age checks and passed as older teens.
Internet Matters found about one-third of UK children aged 9-16 bypassed age checks in the two months after Online Safety Act took effect.
Twenty-six percent of parents allowed their child to bypass age checks, with 17 percent actively helping.
Forty-nine percent reported seeing harmful material such as violent, body-image or hateful content in the past month.

History

Historical Context

The 2017 Digital Economy Act first required commercial porn sites to verify users’ ages, a mandate repeatedly delayed and ultimately abandoned after Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan announced its suspension in October 2019. Open Rights Group warned the scheme would be easily bypassed, a prediction borne out when 30 percent of users evaded checks, a pattern echoed in the 2023 Online Safety Act.

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Story summary

Children drew fake moustaches to fool facial-recognition age checks and passed as older teens.
Internet Matters found about one-third of UK children aged 9-16 bypassed age checks in the two months after Online Safety Act took effect.
Twenty-six percent of parents allowed their child to bypass age checks, with 17 percent actively helping.
Forty-nine percent reported seeing harmful material such as violent, body-image or hateful content in the past month.

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