Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of age verification mechanisms on social media platforms.

Ofcom are due to publish a report on age assurance by July 2026, which will assess the effectiveness of age assurance technologies for compliance with the child safety duties of the Online Safety Act.

Age assurance technologies play an important role in supporting the duties and ensuring that platforms are providing an age-appropriate experience for children on their services. Over 6,000 services are now using highly effective age assurance, and Ofcom’s analysis shows that, on average, 7.8 million UK visitors per day are accessing adult services who have deployed age assurance.