![33% of Users Fake Their Age at Sign-Up [2026 Data]](/_astro/what-percentage-of-users-lie-on-sign-up-forms.DZBox4s__Z2ojEGS.webp)
About a third of children, 33%, who have a social media profile list a birth date that makes them appear 18 or older, meaning they typed a false date of birth into the sign-up form, according to Ofcom's Children's User Ages 2024 research, published in November 2024. That single self-declared field, birth date, is the most measured, most consistently false piece of data on any sign-up form, and it is far from the only one.
Below is what Ofcom's research shows by age group, how it compares to a similar finding from 2011, what a separate adult survey found about dating-profile dishonesty, and what any site collecting identity data at sign-up should take from the pattern.
What percentage of users lie about their age at sign-up?
Roughly a third of children aged 8 to 17 with an active social media profile show a user age of 18 or older, per Ofcom's Children's User Ages 2024, Wave 3 tracking. Ofcom's public summary does not disclose the underlying panel size for this specific wave, but the finding is drawn from the same ongoing research program behind its annual Children's Media Use and Attitudes report, and the agency describes the roughly 33% figure as stable across its last four measurement waves.
The false-age pattern is sharper among younger children than the headline number suggests. Among 8 to 12 year olds specifically, about a third show a user age of 16 or older, and nearly a fifth show a user age of 18 or older, despite being well under any platform's typical minimum sign-up age of 13.
Figure 1: Share of child social media profiles showing an age older than the child's actual age, by cohort. Source: Ofcom, Children's User Ages 2024, Wave 3 (November 2024).
Most platforms rely on the age a user types into the sign-up form, with no further verification. That single design choice is why a self-declared birth date field produces this kind of gap between the age on file and the age of the person behind the account.
Is age-lying at sign-up a new problem?
No. The gap between declared age and actual age at sign-up has been documented for well over a decade, and the scale has stayed in a similar range even as the platforms involved have changed.
Consumer Reports' State of the Net survey, covering 2,089 online households in May 2011, found that of the 20 million minors who had used Facebook in the previous year, 7.5 million, or 37.5%, were younger than 13, Facebook's minimum sign-up age at the time. More than 5 million of those underage users were 10 years old or younger. The US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, had already set 13 as the effective floor for collecting personal data from children without parental consent, which is why 13 became the de facto minimum sign-up age across most US consumer platforms.
| Source | Year | Population | Share with a false or underage sign-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Reports, State of the Net survey | 2011 | Minors using Facebook (2,089 households surveyed) | 37.5% under Facebook's 13-year minimum |
| Ofcom, Children's User Ages 2024, Wave 3 | 2024 | Children aged 8-17 with a social media profile | 33% show a user age of 18+ |
| Ofcom, Children's User Ages 2024, Wave 3 | 2024 | Children aged 8-12 with a social media profile | 18% show a user age of 18+ |
Figure 2: Milestones in age-declaration policy and the resulting sign-up data gap. Source: US FTC (COPPA), Consumer Reports (2011), EU GDPR Article 8, Ofcom (2024).
The consistency across 13 years is the notable part. Different laws, different dominant platforms, and a much larger internet population still produced a comparable share of users entering a birth date that does not match their real age.
Do adults lie on sign-up forms too?
Yes, and not only about age. A Forbes Health roundup of Statista Consumer Insights survey data, based on 2,004 single Americans surveyed in April 2024, found that 20% of online dating users admit to lying about their age on their profile, and a further 14% admit to lying about other personal details such as height, job, or relationship status. Profile dishonesty was more common among men than women in the same survey: 51% of men reported misrepresenting something about themselves, compared with 44% of women.
A dating profile is, functionally, a sign-up form: a user fills in fields, some self-declared and unverifiable, before the account or listing goes live. The 20% age-lying figure among adults sits below the roughly 33% figure Ofcom found among children on social platforms, but it confirms the behavior is not limited to minors trying to clear an age gate.
Figure 3: Self-reported profile dishonesty among 2,004 single Americans surveyed. Source: Forbes Health, citing Statista Consumer Insights (April 2024).
How does the Facebook under-13 gap break down?
Consumer Reports' 2011 figure is worth visualizing on its own, since it is the most-cited historical anchor for this behavior and still frames how platforms think about self-declared age today. Of the 20 million minors Consumer Reports projected were using Facebook, more than a third had entered a birth date that put them under the platform's stated minimum.
Figure 4: Share of minor Facebook users at or above versus below the platform's stated sign-up age minimum. Source: Consumer Reports, State of the Net survey, May 2011.
Consumer Reports' figure is now 15 years old and reflects one platform at one point in its growth, so treat it as historical context for the scale of the problem rather than a current number. Ofcom's 2024 data is the more current source for anyone citing today's rate.
Why does a sign-up form catch so little of this?
Almost every consumer sign-up form asks for a birth date or age with a free-text or dropdown field and no independent check behind it. A user who does not meet the stated minimum, or who simply prefers not to disclose their real age, can clear the field by entering any date that satisfies the form's validation rule.
Figure 5: How a self-declared date-of-birth field handles a user below the stated minimum age. Source: PrivacyTerms.io analysis of standard consumer sign-up flows.
Only a small minority of consumer platforms pair that birth date field with an actual identity or credit-card check, since verification adds friction and cost to the sign-up flow. That tradeoff, low friction over verified accuracy, is the direct mechanical reason a self-declared age field produces a gap this large and this stable over time.
The Bottom Line
Every dataset here points the same direction: a meaningful minority to a full third of the people filling out a sign-up form misstate at least one identity field, most consistently their age, and that share has held roughly steady across 13 years of measurement despite completely different platforms and laws. Ofcom's 33% finding among children is the freshest and most rigorous number available; the 2011 Consumer Reports figure and the 2024 adult dating-profile figure both confirm it is not an isolated result.
For a site owner, the practical implication is not to chase perfect age verification, which most consumer platforms have decided is not worth the friction, but to be honest in your own privacy policy about what a self-declared field actually represents: an unverified claim, not a confirmed fact. If your sign-up form collects date of birth or other identity details, you can generate a privacy policy that discloses how age and identity data is collected, used, and retained, including language covering what happens when a user's declared age does not match their actual age. For the wider pattern of how consumers behave once their data is collected, see our broader look at data privacy statistics and our coverage of how many consumers have deleted an app over privacy concerns.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of users lie about their age on sign-up forms? About a third, 33%, of children aged 8 to 17 with a social media profile show an adult user age of 18 or older, meaning they entered a false date of birth when they signed up, according to Ofcom's Children's User Ages 2024, Wave 3 research published in November 2024.
Is it just children who lie on sign-up forms? No. Among adults, a Forbes Health roundup of Statista Consumer Insights survey data (April 2024, 2,004 single Americans) found that 20% of online dating users admit lying about their age on their profile and 14% admit lying about other personal details, with 51% of men and 44% of women admitting to some profile dishonesty.
Has age-lying on sign-up forms always been a problem? Yes. Consumer Reports' State of the Net survey, covering 2,089 online households in 2011, found that 7.5 million of the 20 million minors who used Facebook that year, 37.5%, were under the platform's minimum sign-up age of 13.
What should website owners do about false sign-up data? Treat self-declared age and identity fields as unverified by default, since Ofcom describes its roughly 33% false-age finding as broadly consistent across its last four tracking waves, not a one-off spike. Any site that collects date of birth or other identity fields should disclose why in its privacy policy and avoid relying on that data alone for age-gating decisions.
Where the Numbers Come From
- Ofcom. (2024). "A Third of Children Have a False Social Media Age of 18." Children's User Ages 2024, Wave 3 tracking data, published November 2024.
- Consumer Reports. (2011). "Consumer Reports Survey: 7.5 Million Facebook Users Are Under the Age of 13, Violating the Site's Terms." State of the Net survey, 2,089 online households, published May 10, 2011.
- Forbes Health. (2024). "Online Dating Statistics," citing Statista Consumer Insights survey data, 2,004 single Americans surveyed April 2024.
- Federal Trade Commission. "Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA)." Effective April 2000, sets 13 as the age threshold for collecting a child's personal data without parental consent.
Note: All figures verified as of August 2026. Ofcom's public summary for the 2024 Wave 3 update does not publish a specific panel size for this measure; treat the 33% figure as the agency's own tracked estimate rather than a fixed one-time poll result. Figures are refreshed at least twice a year to track new Ofcom waves and updated consumer surveys.
