TikTok is under formal scrutiny from UK media regulator Ofcom over how it verifies the ages of its users and whether its safeguards effectively shield under-18s from harmful content. The probe, announced on July 16, 2026, follows a government move a month earlier to ban under-16s from certain platforms and expands a wider crackdown on protecting children online. Ofcom will assess TikTok’s methods for determining whether a user is a child and the platform’s safeguards to prevent exposure to adult material and other harms.
Ofcom’s review centers on age inference technology, a tool that estimates a user’s age based on usage patterns and behavior on the app. Kate Davies, Ofcom’s group director for strategy and research, told the BBC that some age-check methods used by social media firms may not be effective enough to prevent under-18 access. She said the regulator has “serious doubts” about the reliability of age-inference approaches and how well they keep young users safe online.
TikTok responded that it already provides age-appropriate experiences for under-18s and would cooperate with Ofcom to demonstrate compliance with the Online Safety Act obligations. A spokesperson also noted that the company has invested billions in online safety since its UK launch eight years ago and highlighted efforts to enforce age-appropriate experiences through rules and technologies aligned with industry peers.
The Ofcom inquiry is part of a broader enforcement push to curb exposure to harmful content, including pornography, on platforms that host young users. The Online Safety Act, which took effect in July 2024, requires platforms to use highly effective age checks to verify users’ ages and to shield children from age-inappropriate content. The regulator has signaled it will use its powers to address non-compliance and has already issued penalties to other sites where age checks failed.
Beyond TikTok, Instagram and other platforms also rely on age-inference technologies as part of their safety toolkit. The investigation has drawn comment from advocacy groups and safety experts. Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, welcomed Ofcom’s scrutiny and cited research suggesting many teens encounter high-risk content on TikTok. He also criticized what he described as a failure to “clean up” toxic algorithms and to uphold child-safety duties. Legal expert Rebecca Smart of Payne Hicks Beach said the Online Safety Act has made progress but cautioned that enforcement may not be strong enough to deter non-compliance, urging tougher penalties for services that fail to implement proper age checks.
TikTok did not provide additional interviews beyond its statement and declined to comment further on the specifics of the investigation. The BBC reported that Ofcom’s inquiry underscores a period of intensified regulatory focus on how tech platforms protect younger users as lawmakers in the UK consider further measures to bolster online safety.
