Ofcom Launches Investigation Into TikTok Age Checks and Child Safety Systems

Ofcom launched an investigation on 16 July 2026 into TikTok's child safety measures. The media regulator will examine the platform's methods for determining whether a user is a child and whether it maintains adequate systems to prevent minors from viewing harmful content.

The probe follows a May review by the regulator that criticised TikTok for not being safe enough for children and called for stronger action on children's online safety.

It also comes a month after the UK government announced plans to ban under-16s entirely from a range of platforms. At the centre of the inquiry is TikTok's use of age inference technology, which estimates a user's age based on how they interact with the platform, such as the videos they watch.

Kate Davies, Ofcom's group director for strategy and research, told BBC's Today programme that the regulator had serious doubts about whether such tools are good enough.

She said some age checks used by social media platforms are not working well enough and that the regulator requires highly effective methods. A TikTok spokesperson said the company is confident that it meets its Online Safety Act obligations and will work with Ofcom to demonstrate compliance.

The spokesperson added that TikTok strictly enforces age-appropriate experiences through expert-informed rules and advanced age inference technologies, in line with major industry peers, and has invested billions in online safety since launching in the UK eight years ago.