UK advertising watchdog slams lax age verification at social media sites

The UK advertising watchdog has slammed the lax age verification systems used by websites such as Facebook, after finding that over 80 per cent of children lied about their age when using social media.

The issue came up while the Advertising Standards Authority was conducting a survey assessing what kind of ads young people saw and whether companies were complying with the UK advertising code.

According to the survey, 83 per cent of the 11 to 15 year olds whose internet usage was monitored registered on a social media site using false information about their age.

A little over 40 per cent of the children signed in stating their age as 18 years, and one even claimed  to be 88.

The report uncovered that  though advertisers had been accurate with targeting their ads many children were accessing inappropriate content – such as ads for gambling, alcohol, slimming aids and overtly sexual dating services as they were lying about their age.

According to the ASA, the report "clearly asks questions" of social media owners such as Facebook, which it believed had been in the know about young users using false ages to log in.

According to Guy Parker, chief executive of the ASA, the association would raise the issues with social media companies. He added, if advertisers and social media companies knew that children said they were older than they were, did they  they not have a crucial part to play.

According to the survey all but four of the 24 children aged between 11 and 15 who participated in the study registered on a social media site using a false age.

The ASA found that of the 218 ads served to those registered as over 18, 24 (11 per cent) pertained to products that "must not be directed at people under 18 through the selection of media or the context in which they appear".

The study found that 98 per cent of the 427 ads seen by the participants were in compliance with the relevant rules, and advertisers were acting in good faith by taking account of the registered age of social media account holders, the ASA said.

According to the ASA, it would present the findings to its council "with a view to exploring whether we need to take a tighter line on age-restricted ads in social media". It would also ask the body that wrote the Advertising Code, the Committee of Advertising Practice, whether new guidance on targeting ads online was needed.