Several countries, including the UK and Australia, have introduced changes that prevent people under a certain age from accessing certain social platforms. And now, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention: Minors are exploiting simple tricks, including fake mustaches, to bypass online age verification checks that rely on facial analysis. While recent reports focus exclusively on minors in the UK, it could happen anywhere on platforms like social media, gaming services, and adult entertainment sites.
Researchers surveyed (PDF) just under 1,300 children ages 9 through 16 and found that about half of them believe online age checks are easy to get around, and roughly a third admit they have done so.
One example in the report describes children drawing mustaches with makeup pencils to appear older during selfie‑based age checks. In some “lucky” cases, the mustaches successfully tricked the automated tools into categorizing them as over the relevant age threshold.
But fake mustaches are only one of many strategies kids use to bypass the rules. Other methods include entering false dates of birth, using a parent’s or older sibling’s ID, or pointing the camera at someone else’s face. Some used VPNs to avoid regional restrictions, while others used AI to generate images that would fool verification checks. Parents even help children bypass checks, which undermines policy goals.
As the survey demonstrates, age verification systems remain fragile. Experts argue that any technical solution will need to balance privacy, accuracy, and ease of evasion by tech‑savvy kids.
