Fake Moustache Bypasses Age Verification System Raising Online Safety Act Concerns

The report evaluates the UK Online Safety Act's initial impact on child protection, finding that while age verification and safety features have become more common and visible, they remain easy for determined children to bypass (examples include fake birthdates, borrowed logins, spoofed facial images and a "moustache" trick). Around half of children still encounter harmful content; parents worry about how ID or facial-scan data is stored and reused, prompting calls for centralized, privacy-preserving solutions and stronger, consistent enforcement rather than box-ticking checks.