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Ineffective age controls putting children at risk on social media AGE restrictions on social media apps aim at protecting children are ineffective and easily bypassed, according to new research. A study carried out by Dr Liliana Pasquale (pictured), from the UCD School of Computer Science, found young people of all ages can sidestep age verification measures when signing-up to popular social media apps like Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook by simply lying about their age. "This results in children being exposed to privacy and safety threats such as cyberbullying, online grooming, or exposure to content that may be inappropriate for their age," she said. The study, published in the peer-reviewed jouranl IEEE Software, carried out by researchers at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, examined ten well known apps and found each allowed users setting up accounts to avoid giving proof of their age if they first
claimed to be 16. Under the GDPR, children below the age of digital consent (13-16) need parental permission for their data to be collected and processed. “Our study found that some apps disabled registration if users input ages below 13, but if the age 16 is provided as input initially then none of the apps requires proof of age,” Dr Pasquale said, calling for much more robust age verification methods. “Providing mechanisms that deter a user from installing an app on a device on which they have previously declared themselves to be underage is currently one of the most sensible solutions not to incentivise users to lie about their age.” The researchers studied the age verification process of Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, HouseParty, Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, Messenger, Skype and Discord in April 2019 and again one year later.
Ireland’s first free voluntary tax clinic arrives in NUI Galway IRELAND’S first free tax clinic has been set up in NUI Galway to educate students about entitlements, obligations and how to run their tax affairs. The pioneering initiative will see tax students in the J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics work in partn e r s h i p w i t h t e a c h i n g s t a ff a n d professional, external tax advisors in providing an online and confidential service. The NUI Galway Tax Clinic is being established initially to assist the University’s students, with a view to extending its services to community groups which are unable to access or afford tax information. The service will run for at least six weeks at first, offering practical tax information and support to students with tax concerns and queries arising from a change in their circumstances, particularly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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