Ofcom has launched a formal investigation into whether TikTok is failing to protect children from harmful content, focusing on concerns that the platform's age-verification methods are ineffective. The regulator fears TikTok's approach, which relies on inferring users' ages rather than more robust checks, may fail to correctly identify a significant proportion of children, leaving them exposed to content about self-harm, suicide, disordered eating and pornography. The probe comes almost a year after child protection measures under the Online Safety Act took effect, and as the UK government prepares to introduce a social media ban for under-16s early next year.

Ofcom said no conclusions have been reached, but confirmed compliance failures could result in fines of up to £18m or 10% of worldwide qualifying revenue, whichever is greater, with the most serious breaches potentially leading to sites being blocked in the UK. TikTok, the third most-used platform among 8- to 14-year-olds after YouTube and WhatsApp, said it uses date-of-birth checks and "signal"-based technology to detect underage users, and insisted it meets its legal obligations. Ofcom also voiced broader "serious doubts" about age-inference techniques generally, citing research showing about one in ten 15- to 17-year-olds were still using popular dating apps despite age checks, and urged platforms to adopt more effective verification methods.