Kids of all ages signing up to Snapchat and TikTok by skipping age verification, Irish study finds
Updated: 27 Jan 2021, 16:48
CHILDREN of all ages are signing up to Snapchat and TikTok by bypassing the sites’ age verification, a new Irish study has found.
The research by the team at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, shows that social media sites measures to stop young people accessing their content are not working.
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The team said it is too easy for young people to pretend they are older to get an account on a social media site (file image)Credit: Getty Images - Getty
Report shows children can bypass age verification procedures on social media apps
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Children of all ages can completely bypass age verification measures to sign-up to the world’s most popular social media apps including Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype and Discord by simply lying about their age, a study by researchers at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software has found.
And even potential age verification solutions identified by the research team can be easily sidestepped by children, according to the team’s most recent study: Digital Age of Consent and Age Verification: Can They Protect Children?
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IMAGE: Children of all ages can bypass age verification measures to sign-up to the world s most popular social media apps by simply lying about their age, a study led by Dr. view more
Credit: Photo by Piquant
Children of all ages can completely bypass age verification measures to sign-up to the world s most popular social media apps including Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype and Discord by simply lying about their age, researchers at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software have discovered.
And even potential age verification solutions identified by the research team can be easily sidestepped by children, according to the team s most recent study: Digital Age of Consent and Age Verification: Can They Protect Children?
Led by researchers in Trinity’s School of Physics, the Trinity researchers undertook the project as a result of an open competition by TOTAL, where their proposal welcomed several applications from research teams across the globe.
The research was funded by TOTAL Marketing Services and supported by MaREI, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine.
The scientific work carried out by Trinity was focused on determining systematically what makes some molecular structures better octane boosters that others. By modifying these structures and adding molecular components as if they were LEGO pieces, the researchers were able to calculate if a given structure met the theoretical principles to become an efficient octane booster.
Trinity, TOTAL researchers design new molecules that boost fuel efficiency
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin’s and TOTAL have designed, synthesized and tested new additives that increase fuel efficiency. Led by Professor Stephen Dooley in Trinity’s School of Physics, the Trinity researchers undertook the project as a result of an open competition by TOTAL, where their proposal welcomed several applications from research teams across the globe.
The research was funded by TOTAL Marketing Services and supported by MaREI, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine. While the specifics of the work are proprietary to TOTAL and can’t be disclosed, the research team published an open-access paper in the journal