The evidence says yes, at scale. Australia’s Age Assurance Technology Trial, the largest independent evaluation yet conducted, tested solutions from 48 providers and concluded that age assurance can be done privately, robustly and effectively, that there were no substantial technological limitations preventing implementation and that no single solution fits every context, which is why choice of method matters.
- In the UK, since it was first required in August 2025, the vast majority of the most visited adult sites now operate age assurance for UK users (80% of the top 100 sites).
- In Australia, almost five million under 16 social media accounts were deactivated or restricted within months of the minimum age law taking effect – but there is more to do as the platforms have resisted challenging users whose ages may have been inflated when they opened their account (and 9 in 10 platforms in scope for the law were still not checking age for new accounts when this was tested in May 2026).
The measure of success is a substantial reduction in children’s exposure, and that is what the data shows even where digital services have been reluctant to implement regulations.