Age Checks Helping Make Online Experiences Safer for UK Children

Significant progress in first few months of laws being in force, with proportion of children encountering highly effective age checks nearly doubling overall.
8% of children attempt to access porn; half of these children only reached sites with age checks in place, while those visiting porn sites without age checks often go via search engines.
Serious doubts whether age inference methods currently used by some popular social media sites and apps are fit for purpose, with investigation launched into TikTok.
Ofcom sends clear message to industry that age inference methods will not be good enough to support under 16s social media ban.
Ofcom expects further innovation from app stores, operating systems and at device-level, ensuring whole industry plays part in improving protections for children.

In just one year, age checks are being deployed at an unprecedented scale, ensuring the UK is at the forefront of global efforts to make online experiences safer for children.^[1] But, as the UK prepares to introduce a social media ban for under 16s, more action from the tech industry is needed to further strengthen protections for children across the system.^[2]

A new report published by Ofcom reveals that age checks are now being deployed at an unprecedented scale across the pornography, social media, dating and gaming sectors. Many services are taking steps to ensure these checks are highly effective in practice, in line with Ofcom’s industry guidance.

The proportion of children being asked to prove their age who encountered highly effective age checks increased from 25% to 43% between July 2025 and January 2026.

Among the minority of online children who attempt to access pornography (8%), the presence of age checks acts as an effective deterrent.^[4] Half of these children only reached sites with age checks in place. Nearly nine in ten of these children’s visits (87%) to porn sites were for under 30 seconds, and 65% were for less than 10 seconds.