The UK government has announced a ban on under-16s accessing TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and other social media platforms. 

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer recently announced that the regulation will pass before Christmas 2026 and come into force in spring 2027. 

Now, data from the Information Commissioner’s Office shows that the most popular method of verifying a user’s age is self-declaration.

Self-declaration means a user states their age, and nothing is verified against it. 

The report surveyed UK digital services companies about their age-assurance practices in April 2024. 

TL;DR

• 53% of UK digital services companies currently use self-declaration (a tick box or a typed birth year) as their age-assurance method. 
• Biometric estimation through facial analysis (the most technically capable age verification method) is used by just 2% of UK digital services companies.

As you can see from the table above, after self-declaration at 53%, payment card verification is the next most popular method (credit card at 38% and debit card at 38%). 

Children in the UK can hold debit accounts from approximately age 11 through challenger banks and traditional high street accounts. 

A verification method used by more than one in three services is a method that children can access by design.

ALSO READ: Mapped: Which U.S. States Have Tried to Protect Kids From Social Media?

Meanwhile, photo-identification biometric matching (where a user uploads a passport or driving license and the system matches it against a live facial image) sits at 28%. 

This is the most rigorous and widely deployed method in the report, and it is close to the standard used in airport security. 

Family account holder confirmation, where a parent or guardian associated with a family account confirms the user’s age, sits at 18%. 

In other words, the only method that directly involves parents in the process covers only about one in five services.

What the Ban Requires

Australia implemented a comparable national under-16 social media ban in late 2024 using a “reasonable steps” standard. 

It required platforms to take reasonable steps to verify age without specifying which methods count. The debate over whether self-declaration constitutes a reasonable step has continued since then. 

The UK faces the same design question.

ALSO READ: TikTok Ranks as Most Addictive Social Media Platform

So, What?

If Ofcom, the communications regulator responsible for enforcing the UK ban, permits self-declaration as a compliant age-assurance method, the regulation would change the law while leaving children’s practical access unchanged. 

A child who currently types a birth year into a box will continue to do so under a different legal framework.

If Ofcom mandates specific technical standards requiring photo ID biometric matching, open banking integration, or facial analysis above a minimum accuracy threshold, the majority of the industry will need to rebuild its age-checking infrastructure before spring 2027. 

ELI5 (Explain It Like I’m 5)

The UK just said kids under 16 can’t use TikTok or Instagram. But right now, most UK websites just ask, “Are you old enough?” and trust your answer (over half use this honor system). Proper age checks, such as scanning your passport, are used by fewer than a third of companies. The fanciest technology (reading your face) is used by just 2%. The ban only works if companies are forced to use real checks, not just a tickbox.

Source: 

Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)