Media regulator Ofcom has warned that the UK’s planned ban on social media for children under 16 may be difficult to enforce, and that measures in use in Australia haven’t been shown to be effective.
Ofcom said that the means used by several platform operators to distinguish under-16s remain unproven.
Apps including TikTok and Google’s YouTube use algorithms to identify users under 16 based on their behaviour on the app.
‘Technically feasible’
“The evidence does not yet show that these models can deliver an effective, privacy-preserving solution for an under-16 ban,” Ofcom said, referring to behaviour-based techniques.
