Ofcom will examine whether TikTok’s age checks and content protections meet Online Safety Act requirements designed to keep children away from the most harmful material.
Britain’s communications regulator has opened a formal investigation into TikTok over concerns that the platform may not be doing enough to keep children away from harmful content.
Ofcom announced the investigation on July 16, saying it will examine whether TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited has failed, or is failing, to comply with duties under section 12 of the Online Safety Act.
The law requires platforms likely to be accessed by children to use effective systems that prevent young users from encountering the most seriously harmful material, a category that includes pornography and content promoting suicide, self-harm or eating disorders. Platforms must also protect children in different age groups from other content that could put them at risk. These duties took effect on July 25, 2025.
What Ofcom Is Investigating
A central question is whether TikTok’s age checks meet the law’s standard of being highly effective at determining whether a user is a child.
TikTok relies in part on a method known as age inference, which estimates a user’s age from signals such as behavior and activity on the platform rather than an ID document or a face scan.
A new Ofcom report on age assurance, published alongside the investigation, found that age inference models, including those used by TikTok, “may have failed to correctly identify a significant proportion of children.” When a child is mistaken for an adult, protections designed for younger users may never switch on.
Ofcom has said it has serious doubts that age inference can meet the legal standard and has urged companies relying on it to adopt stronger methods.
The regulator stressed that opening an investigation does not mean it has concluded TikTok broke the law. It will gather and analyze evidence before reaching any decision.
The Research Behind the Case
The investigation builds on Ofcom research published in May examining children’s experiences online during the first year of the new rules.
The children’s online experiences report found that 73 percent of children ages 11 to 17 recalled encountering at least one type of harmful content over a four-week period, with little overall improvement since the duties took effect.
Personalized feeds were the most common route to that material, and 35 percent of affected children said they came across it while scrolling their feed. Among secondary school age children who reported seeing harmful content, 53 percent named TikTok, ahead of YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
In a companion review of how major platforms responded to its call for stronger protections, Ofcom said Snap, Meta and Roblox committed to new safety measures, while TikTok and YouTube had not committed to significant changes to their recommendation feeds.
TikTok Says It Complies With the Law
TikTok has rejected the suggestion that it is falling short. A spokesperson said the company is “confident that we meet our Online Safety Act obligations” and will work with Ofcom to demonstrate that.
The company says its platform rules and age estimation technology are developed with expert input to give younger users an age appropriate experience, an approach it describes as consistent with industry practice. It also points to billions invested in safety since launching in the United Kingdom.
Penalties and What Happens Next
Ofcom’s first step will be to use its formal powers to gather and analyze evidence, a process it expects to take at least three months. The regulator plans to publish an update in October 2026.
If serious compliance failures are found, TikTok could face a fine of up to £18 million or 10 percent of its qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater. In the most serious cases, Ofcom can ask a court to require third parties, such as payment providers or internet service providers, to withdraw services from a platform or block access to it in the UK.
The case is unfolding amid wider change in Britain, weeks after the government announced plans to bar under-16s from a range of social media platforms. Regulators in other countries are watching closely.
What the Investigation Means for Parents
For families, the investigation confirms something many already suspected: age checks and personalized feeds are imperfect, and the law places the primary responsibility for fixing that on platforms, not on parents.
There are still practical steps families can take while the case proceeds. Regular, low pressure conversations remain the most reliable window into a child’s online life. Parents can ask what tends to appear in their child’s feed, how certain videos make them feel and whether anything has frightened or confused them.
Tools can help too. TikTok’s Family Pairing settings let parents link accounts to manage screen time, messaging and content filters, and reviewing privacy settings together can turn a chore into a conversation.
Parents who are newer to a country, including immigrant and refugee families, can face extra hurdles, from unfamiliar apps and fast moving trends to safety guidance that is rarely available in their first language. Those hurdles are real, but the underlying challenge is shared by parents everywhere, and no family should have to act as a full time content moderator.
Ofcom’s October update will offer the first indication of where the case is heading.
