SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2026|No. 7781
Technology · Regulation

Ofcom Investigates TikTok Over Child Age Verification Failures

UK media regulator Ofcom has launched an investigation into TikTok's age-checking systems, citing concerns that children may still access harmful content despite existing safeguards.

A child looking at a smartphone, illustrating concerns over underage access to TikTok.
A child looking at a smartphone, illustrating concerns over underage access to TikTok.
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Ofcom launches investigation into TikTok child safety concerns

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An investigation has been launched into TikTok over child safety measures.

The probe by media regulator Ofcom comes a month after the UK government announced that under-16's would be banned entirely from a range of platforms.

Ofcom will examine how the video-sharing app assesses if a user is a child and whether it has adequate systems to prevent children from viewing harmful content.

It follows a review by regulator in May which criticised the platform for not being "safe enough" for children and called for stronger action on children's online safety.

Kate Davies, Ofcom's group director for strategy and research told BBC's Today programme: "This is where TikTok comes in. We found that some method of age checks being used by social media are not working well enough".

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