76% of Kids Reveal Their Age on Social Media, Raising Concerns About Online Safety

Most children (76%) indicate their age in their social media profiles, according to data gathered by Kaspersky Lab during its annual survey of families across the country. This information comes from a study titled «Adults and Children Online: Digital Habits, Risks, and Safety,» conducted by Online Interviewer in June 2024 on behalf of Kaspersky Lab. The research involved 1,013 families with children aged between 3 and 17 living in major cities in Russia.

Kaspersky Lab warns that revealing their actual age is a potentially dangerous trend among children, as such sensitive personal information may provide malicious actors with additional clues to execute fraudulent scenarios through social engineering.

Among teenagers aged 11 to 14, 28% do not disclose their true age and instead inflate it—likely in an attempt to access content and features intended for older users.

Additionally, 25% of the surveyed children who have a social media profile do not restrict their pages from outside visitors.

The survey also revealed that children do not always inform their parents about their online experiences. Only 10% of parents learn about instances when strangers attempt to gain a child’s trust. According to the children themselves, 17% of those surveyed have encountered this situation (most commonly among students over 10 years old).

In 50% of these cases, attempts to make contact occur on social networks, followed by 32% in online games and 31% in messaging apps.