Children's online 'user ages'

Published: 11 October 2022
Last updated: 28 November 2024

Our research has found that while most children between 8 and 17 have a profile on at least one social media platform, some are younger than the minimum age required to use that platform. When a child enters a false age to gain access to the platform, as they get older, so does their false 'user age'. This puts them at greater risk of encountering age-inappropriate or potentially harmful content.

We wanted to estimate the proportion of children who have a false 'user age' on their online profile, making them appear older than they actually are.

2024 data (Wave 3)

Document Date published
Chart pack 28 November 2024
Data tables 28 November 2024
Data file 28 November 2024
Questionnaire 28 November 2024
Technical report 28 November 2024
User Age calculation scenarios flow map 28 November 2024

2024 data (Wave 2)

Document Date published
Chart pack 8 May 2024
Data tables 8 May 2024
Data file 8 May 2024
Questionnaire 8 May 2024
Technical report 8 May 2024
User Age calculation scenarios flow map 8 May 2024

2023 data (Wave 1)

Document Date published
Chart pack (PDF, 443.6 KB) 28 November 2023
Data tables (XLSX, 1.5 MB) 28 November 2023
Data file  (SAV, 6.6 MB) 28 November 2023
Questionnaire (PDF, 251.6 KB) 28 November 2023
Technical report (PDF, 392.9 KB) 28 November 2023
User age calculation scenarios flow map (PDF, 495.2 KB) 28 November 2023

2022 data

Document Date published
Chart pack (PDF, 992.6 KB) 11 October 2022
Data tables (XLSX, 932.2 KB) 11 October 2022
Data tables (user age data only) (XLSX, 33.3 KB) 11 October 2022
Back to top