Are age bans effective in keeping children and youth safe online?

Age measures can be part of a solution, but age bans alone are insufficient. Children routinely bypass age gates, and age verification tools are imperfect.

There is no age at which risk suddenly disappears. The adolescent brain is still developing, particularly areas responsible for impulse control, emotional regulation, and reward sensitivity, making children and adolescents uniquely vulnerable to addictive design features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, and algorithmic reinforcement.

If age assurance or age verification tools are used, they must be privacy preserving, proportionate, and independently overseen. They can, in no way, be a substitute for upholding a legal duty of care or instituting safety-by-design harm reduction measures.