Facebook and Google to be forced to introduce strict age checks

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Facebook and Google will be forced to introduce strict age checks on their websites or assume all their users are children.

Web firms that hoover up people's personal information will have to guarantee they know the age of their users before allowing them to set up an account. 

Companies that don't face fines of up to four per cent of their global turnover – £1.67 billion in the case of Facebook.

The age checks are part of a tough new code being drawn up by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which is backed by existing data protection laws and will come into force as early as the autumn.

The code also aims to stop web firms bombarding children with harmful material, a problem highlighted by the case of Molly Russell, 14, who killed herself after Instagram allowed her to see self-harm images. 

Experts claim it will have a 'transformative' effect on social media sites, which have been accused of exposing young people to dangerous material, bullying and predators. It includes rules to help protect children from paedophiles online. 

Facebook will be forced to ensure its pages and settings are child-appropriate but in Google's case it is not clear if the age checks will relate to all websites found via the search engine or only ones people have to subscribe to.

The ICO, which has a responsibility to protect children online, has not set out how the code will be enforced, including whether web giants will be self-policing or if the public will be responsible for reporting breaches. 

The new code will be enforced using section 123 of the Data Protection Act 2018, which was completed in December last year. 

Under the new code: