Social media is more akin to the Wild West than ever, filled with misinformation, and general negativity has become unavoidable today, despite ongoing efforts to improve online content.
With this in mind, it has become crucial to ensure that young children stay away from social media until they reach an appropriate age. Unfortunately, a new study found that children can easily bypass the age restriction measures that protect social media accounts to access various platforms. Researchers at the Lero Science Foundation's research center in Ireland stated that all major social media platforms significantly lack proper age verification protocols, which include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, TikTok, Messenger, Skype, and Discord.
The researchers examined age verification processes across all these platforms on two different occasions, first in April 2019 and again in April 2020. This investigation led them to conclude that all children open accounts on these platforms claiming they are at least 16 years old without providing any proof of such age. Essentially, these platforms operate based on a trust system regarding user claims, which is far from ideal.
The study's lead author, Dr. Liliana Pascual, an assistant professor in the School of Computer Science at University College Dublin, stated, "This exposes children to privacy and safety threats such as bullying, grooming, or ethical breaches online, or encountering inappropriate content for their age."
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which took effect in the United States in 2000, establishes the general rule that 13 is the minimum age for accessing anything on social media. At the same time, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe stipulates that all children aged under 13 to 16 must obtain verifiable parental consent for their data to be processed on social media platforms. Notably, the specified age for digital consent varies slightly across Europe; for instance, in Ireland, France, and Germany, the age limit for using social media is 16, whereas in the UK, Denmark, and Sweden, it is 13.
Dr. Pascual noted, "Our study found that even though some apps disable registration if users enter an age under 13, they allow registration if users state they are 16 without asking for any age proof. Thus, providing mechanisms that prevent a user from installing an app on a device they previously declared they were a minor is currently one of the most logical solutions to discourage users from lying about their ages."
Additionally, the study's authors also explored new ways to establish more comprehensive and effective age restrictions for social media use. Surprisingly, they found that children are fully capable of circumventing these stricter rules. For example, if speech recognition is a requirement for age verification before opening a social media account, children can simply play a recording of an older person.
Dr. Pascual added, "In fact, implementing substantial financial penalties has been the primary motivation for app providers to enforce more effective age verification mechanisms. Based on our study and our survey of biometric age recognition technologies, we propose several recommendations for app providers and developers."
The researchers have further suggestions for social media platforms aimed at ensuring a more transparent and safer social media experience for young people. First and foremost, minimum age requirements and data usage policies on any social media platform should be explicit and unavoidable from the outset. Additionally, privacy settings should be automatically set to the most stringent level for every new user under 18.
