How children are getting creative and fooling age verification checks

EuroNews · 🇫🇷 public France · May 04, 2026 · 627 words · By Theo Farrant

Online Child Safety Legislative Effectiveness Age Verification Technology

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What to know about Online Child Safety

A new report reveals that children across the UK are outwitting online safety measures with fake birthdays, borrowed IDs, and some surprisingly creative facial hair.

Claims checked 11

Techniques found 1

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center83%

Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

A new report reveals that children across the UK are outwitting online safety measures with fake birthdays, borrowed IDs, and some surprisingly creative facial hair.

Why it matters

A third of children say they have bypassed online age checks in the past two months - some by drawing fake moustaches on their faces to trick facial recognition software.

Common ground

The report from Internet Matters titled The Online Safety Act: Are Children Safer Online?

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Online Child Safety story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that just over a quarter of parents - 26% - have allowed their child to bypass age checks, with 17% actively helping them do so?
How does this story connect Online Child Safety with Legislative Effectiveness over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/05/04/children-are-drawing-moustaches-on-thei…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 70% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 11 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

help Insufficient Evidence 3

info Single Source 2

verified Verified 2

check_circle Corroborated 2

verified Verified By Reference 1

schedule Pending 1

info

Claim 1: “just over a quarter of parents - 26% - have allowed their child to bypass age checks, with 17% actively helping them do so.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The evidence provided for this claim includes a snippet about age checks but does not mention the specific percentages regarding parents allowing or helping children bypass checks (26% and 17%).

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Awareness of how to bypass age checks is widespread. 46% of children believe age checks are easy to bypass, with only 17% saying they are difficult. Methods discussed include using a fake birthday, a …
https://www.internetmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/I…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Added new values for npcs for critical checks. They now have adjustments based on level and difficulty type (normal vs boss, etc). EM weapons should now properly take their base weapon modifiers again…
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?q=iron+…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Children Have 500% Increase In Chronic Diseases, Has License Suspended & Cancelled By Big Pharma HHS Confounds Pro-Lifers By Restoring Planned Parenthood Funds, Promising Overhaul Next Year RFK Jr - C…
https://rense.com/

verified

Claim 2: “The most common reasons children gave for bypassing age checks were to access a social media platform they were not old enough to use (34%), to join an online game or gaming community (30%), and to use a messaging app (29%).”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of dictionary definitions and unrelated business listings (Primary Clothing, etc.) rather than the actual report data. No evidence was found to confirm these specific percentages.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given to the top rookie(s) of the regular season. Initiated following the 1952–53 NBA …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Rookie_of_the_Year

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The is the definite article in English. The, or THE, may also refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_(disambiguation)

+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 3: “nearly half of children (49%) said they had experienced harm online in the past month”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was gathered for this claim.

help

Claim 4: “including seeing violent content (12%), content promoting unrealistic body types (11%), and racist, homophobic or sexist content (10%)”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was gathered for this claim.

verified

Claim 5: “The report from Internet Matters titled The Online Safety Act: Are Children Safer Online? surveyed 1,270 children aged 9-16 and their parents across the United Kingdom”

VERIFIED

The existence of the report 'The Online Safety Act: Are Children Safer Online?' by Internet Matters is confirmed via web search. While the specific sample size (1,270) isn't explicitly in the snippet, the report title and organization are verified.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Internet safety, also known as online safety, cyber safety, and e-safety, refers to policies, practices and processes that reduce harms to people that are enabled by the misuse of the Internet. This m…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_safety

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Online Safety Act 2021 is a law passed by the Parliament of Australia with the goal of improving online safety.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Safety_Act_2021

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA) (c. 50) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to regulate online content. It was passed on 26 October 2023 and gives the relevant secretary of state the po…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Safety_Act_2023

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 6: “Children in focus groups also described seeing videos of the assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk on their social media feeds.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 7: “The study discovered that 46% of children believe age checks are easy to bypass, while only 17% say they are difficult.”

VERIFIED

The specific statistics (46% believe checks are easy to bypass, 17% say they are difficult) are explicitly stated in the Internet Matters report snippet found in the web search results.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of netwo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects that are embedded with sensors, processing ability, software, and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — A regional Internet registry (RIR) is an organization that manages the allocation and registration of Internet number resources within a region of the world. Internet number resources include IP addre…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Internet_registry

+ 3 more evidence sources

check_circle

Claim 8: “52% of those aged 13 and over saying age verification is easy to beat, compared with 41%of those aged 12 and under.”

CORROBORATED

The specific breakdown of 52% for those aged 13+ and 41% for those 12 and under is explicitly mentioned in multiple web search results reporting on the study.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Internet Matters is a not-for-profit organisation based in London, England. Launched in May 2014 by the United Kingdom's largest internet service providers BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, the orga…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Matters

+ 3 more evidence sources

check_circle

Claim 9: “A third of children say they have bypassed online age checks in the past two months”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results from different news outlets/sources confirm that a report by Internet Matters found a third of UK children have bypassed online age checks.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — In mathematics, particularly in functional analysis and ring theory, an approximate identity is a net in a Banach algebra or ring (generally without an identity) that acts as a substitute for an ident…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approximate_identity

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — In mathematics, particularly in mathematical analysis and measure theory, an approximately continuous function is a concept that generalizes the notion of continuous functions by replacing the ordinar…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approximately_continuous_funct…

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — An approximation is anything that is intentionally similar but not exactly equal to something else.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approximation

+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 10: “The UK's Online Safety Act came into force in July 2025”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

The claim states the Act came into force in July 2025. However, official government sources (GOV.UK) and Wikipedia identify it as the 'Online Safety Act 2023', which was passed on 26 October 2023. July 2025 is a future date relative to the Act's passage.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The Online Safety Act 2023 (the Act) protects children and adults online. It puts a range of new duties on social media companies and search services, giving them legal duties to protect their users f…
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/online-safety-act

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Under the Online Safety Act, Ofcom's job is to make online services safer for the people who use them. We make sure companies have effective systems in place to protect users from harm.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-c…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Current version of Online Safety Act 2023 with latest news, sponsors, and progress through Houses.
https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3137

info

Claim 11: “Around 68% of both parents and children report noticing new safety measures on the platforms children use”

SINGLE SOURCE

The evidence provided discusses Roblox updates and general safety, but does not mention the specific 68% statistic for parents and children noticing new safety measures.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — In an effort to address child safety concerns, digital gaming platform Roblox announced Monday that it is rolling out a major update to its safety features and parental controls. The update includes a…
https://www.npr.org/2024/11/18/nx-s1-5195476/roblox-update-c…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhnscHl_2bw

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Safety Gold Standard: Roblox is the first online gaming platform to require facial age checks to access chat, establishing what we believe will become a new industry standard. This innovation supports…
https://about.roblox.com/newsroom/2025/11/roblox-requires-ag…

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.