An Internet Matters survey of 1,270 UK children aged 9-16 and parents found one-third did so in two months, including a 12-year-old verified as 15 with a drawn moustache.
Children used fake birthdays, borrowed IDs and others' videos; 26% of parents allowed bypassing and 17% helped, mainly for social media, games and messaging apps.
Although 68% noticed new safeguards under the 2025 Online Safety Act, 49% of children still reported online harm last month, prompting calls for safety-by-design and better parental guidance.
As the UK's online safety law pushes harmful content underground, are children actually becoming more secretive and less safe?
With AI threats evolving daily, can any government law ever truly keep pace to protect children online?