CitizenCard offers 13-15s age assurance, but social media ban for users under 16 on table

The 2025 Global Age Assurance Standards Summit is over, but the age assurance debate continues across the globe, with new product developments and fresh calls for tougher regulation and enforcement of the Online Safety Act.

As the UK moves toward a more robust age assurance ecosystem, CitizenCard is offering free ID cards for 13-15 year olds. A release from the organization says many platforms, including Instagram and Facebook, are preparing to enforce age limits by requiring verified photo IDs to confirm the age of their users. For anyone under 16, a driver’s license is not an option, and the 2021 UK census showed that 1 in 8 13-to-15 year olds in the UK did not have a passport.

CitizenCard hopes its initiative can close this identity gap. Per its release, social media users can apply online via its website or through its School and Charity Programme. There are several options for ID verification: “electronic ID validation, an eVisa check via UK Home Office online records, or through a professional referee.”

CitizenCard offers a free API that validates any card it has issued. Its cards can also be verified using the free PASS Card Verify app.

In addition to a free physical ‘white label’ CitizenCard, the organization also offers free Yoti CitizenCards. Noting the launch on Linkedin, Yoti CEO Robin Tombs says “over 1 million UK teenagers have created their Yoti digital ID, and the percentage of 13-15 year old teenagers who get a Yoti, Easy ID or Lloyds Bank Smart ID is set to increase every year.”

In a presentation at the Summit in Amsterdam, CitizenCard’s CEO Andrew Chevis says the free 13-15 program is funded by revenue from adult CitizenCard fees.

Proving you’re 15 won’t cut it if top cops get their way on age assurance

The main driver for getting 13-15 year olds ID cards for proof of age is social media. However, as the regulatory discussion around age assurance for social platforms escalates, authorities in the UK are calling for the law to follow Australia in restricting Facebook, TikTok and their like to users 16 and over.

A piece in the Times reports that “four of the most senior policing figures in the country” are pushing for the government to enact a ban on social media for users under 16. The cops describe social media as a “significant threat” to society, causing teenagers to mimic criminal behavior they see online.

Per the Times, last year saw 10,000 arrests in the UK involving online child sexual exploitation, double the number over the previous twelve months. It quotes Sarah Crew, chief constable of Avon and Somerset and the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on rape and serious sexual offences, who says “young people are by their nature vulnerable and this gives those perpetrators who would want to do harm a really direct channel.”

“It’s like the American West in the 1850s, there was a lot happening and it was expanding quickly but there was little regulation and law enforcement and codification. It sets norms in people’s minds about what’s acceptable and what’s not.”

Several high-profile UK figures, including England men’s football coach Sir Gareth Southgate,  have spoken publicly on the problem of online personalities that seek to radicalize young men and indoctrinate them with misogynistic worldviews. The most infamous of these is Andrew Tate, a former mixed martial arts fighter who has been charged with rape and human trafficking, and who has amassed a large following.

The issue is what sparked the initial political action in Australia that led to its under-16 ban.

Article Topics

age verification  |  children  |  CitizenCard  |  digital ID  |  identity document  |  Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS)  |  regulation  |  social media  |  UK age verification  |  Yoti