By Deputy Content Editor James HockadayAge checks could “significantly” help to enforce a social media ban on under-16s expected to come into effect next year, Ofcom has said.On Thursday, the communications regulator published an assessment of how social media firms could reliably restrict access to adult or harmful content online, or to addictive apps.The government is expected to introduce regulations confirming the ban by the end of the year, with the rules set to take effect in 2027, following a similar ban introduced in Australia last year. Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes said: “This ban will shape the future of children’s lives online so it’s important to get it right.She added: “We should expect that motivated children will seek to bypass the restrictions – just like alcohol laws can’t completely eradicate underage drinking – but there’ll be ways for platforms to mitigate this risk.”Dame Melanie Dawes, chief executive of Ofcom, has compared age restrictions of social media to restricting the sale of alcohol. Credit: PA The regulator said it was developing draft guidance for social media firms that would open for consultation when the government’s plans come before Parliament.Here, ITV News explains the options social media firms could use, how they work and how some determined children could find a way around them.Photo ID matchingThis method would involve checking relevant information on a photo ID document and comparing the photograph on the document to an image of the user captured during the age check, Ofcom says in its guidance. Potential privacy issues will depend on factors including whether or not data is retained, the amount of personal information available on the ID and who carries out the checks. Ofcom suggests using a third-party age assurance provider could provide better privacy. “The information shared during the age check could be limited to a confirmation of whether a user is above or below a certain age (a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response),” the regulator says. “This could limit the amount of sharing other identifying information shared about the user.”There could be ways around this method, Ofcom warns, including the use of borrowed or stolen ID, forged or synthetic documents, and situations where a parent knowingly provides identification for a child touse. However, Ofcom says these circumvention techniques can be mitigated by authenticity checks of IDs andselfie matching with liveness detection – a way of testing if a face, voice or fingerprint is coming from a real human being.Digital identity servicesThese services enable people to digitally prove who they are, or how old they are, without the hassle of having to go through photo ID checks again and again for different platforms. “Reusable digital identities or attributes can be used multiple times for different interactions and transactions, for example, through the use of digital identity wallets which enable users to securely store attributes, such as age, in a digital format,” Ofcom says. There are 275 firms currently providing digital identity products and services in the UK, and as of September 2026, approved digital proof of age can be legally accepted when buying alcohol in England and Wales.The UK Digital Verification Services Trust Framework, a set of rules that came into force in September, maintains a list of trusted providers. Users would have the option to select which attributes to share with a service, providing a more customisable level of privacy. For example, they could choose to only share their age or age range, such as “16 and above”, without accompanying personal and biometrics data commonly included in photo ID.Similarly to the photo ID option, the reliability of this method will depend on the underlying process used to verify a user’s age, Ofcom says. “There is also a risk of a child using another person’s digital identity to complete a check. Services could mitigate this through using secondary biometric or authentication checks,” the regulator adds.Banking information Banking-based checks rely on information a financial institution like a bank or building society has on record regarding a user’s age.As users typically need to provide ID to open a bank account, they could use their banking information as a more convenient verification method thereafter. Users could access the information from their bank or financial institution themselves or via a third-party age assurance provider. As with digital identity services, users would typically need to provide an identity document or other trusted evidence of identity to open an account, but once opened, this may provide a more convenient user experience. Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. Around 90% of UK 16- to 17-year-olds hold a bank account, according to a 2022 survey by the Money and Pensions Service.“As with other methods offered by third parties, it is possible to limit the information shared to a confirmation of whether a user is over a certain age,” Ofcom says, which could limit the amount of personal information shared.The viability of this method depends on banks’ ability to provide adequate age assurance checks. Ofcom says major banks have some “early-stage solutions” which could be ready by the time new regulations come into force.The regulator says that existing security infrastructure and financial regulations mean banking-based verification is seen as “robust against circumvention attempts”, but regulated service providers would still need to prove their checks are up to scratch. Facial age estimation This option involves services that analyse features of a user’s face to estimate their age.This method is more accessible as a user can typically complete it without having to provide a photo ID document or other personal information. The downside is that some technologies have a margin of error of a few years at 16.To account for this, services should take a “challenge age” approach, similar to the “Challenge 25” policy used when selling alcohol in shops, Ofcom says. For example, if the challenge age was set at 19, users estimated to be between 16 and 19 years old would likely need to undergo an additional age check.A range of age verification methods. Credit: OfcomUsers may attempt to bypass the checks by using a photograph, video or other spoofed representation of an older person, Ofcom warns.There’s already precedent for this, as PC Gamer reported in July 2025 that players of the video game Death Stranding could use characters’ faces to bypass age checks for sites restricted under the Online Safety Act. “As with other methods, liveness detection can help to ensure that children are not using images of adults to pass through checks,” Ofcom says.“The risk that users may attempt to deliberately appear older through simple tricks should be accounted for in testing. Retry limits may also help to reduce circumvention risks associated with facial age estimation.”As for privacy, facial age estimation may include the processing of biometric data, so privacy implications will depend on how the method is implemented, Ofcom adds. Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? 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