Ofcom has launched a formal investigation into TikTok over fears its age-checking technology is failing to protect children from harmful content, including posts about suicide, self-harm and pornography. The probe, announced on 16 July 2026, comes a month after the UK government said it would ban under-16s from a range of social media platforms early next year – and a year after the Online Safety Act’s children’s codes took effect.
At the heart of the regulator’s inquiry is TikTok’s use of “age inference”, a system that estimates a user’s age based on how they use the platform, such as the videos they watch or the people they interact with. Ofcom’s group director for strategy and research, Kate Davies, told the BBC’s Today programme that the regulator had “serious doubts” about whether such tools can be “highly effective” at correctly identifying children. “We have very serious questions about whether age inference can be highly effective,” she said.
“Ofcom investigates TikTok over age checks that may fail to protect children from harmful content including suicide and pornography.”
Ofcom said the investigation would seek to establish whether TikTok has failed to comply with its legal obligations under the Online Safety Act, including by using age assurance that is “highly effective at correctly determining whether or not a particular user is a child”. The regulator warned that compliance failures could lead to fines of up to £18m or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater, and that in the most serious cases it could apply to have sites blocked or restricted in the UK.
The probe follows a review by Ofcom in May that criticised TikTok for not being “safe enough” for children and called for stronger action on online safety. TikTok insists it meets the requirements. A spokesperson said: “We’re confident that we meet our Online Safety Act obligations and will work with Ofcom to demonstrate it.” The company added that it “strictly enforce[s] age-appropriate experiences through expert-informed platform 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.
The government’s planned under-16 social media ban, announced by Keir Starmer, will increase scrutiny on how tech companies verify users’ ages. Meanwhile, Meta said on Thursday it was taking steps to alert parents and emergency services if children discussed suicide or self-harm with its AI chatbots on Instagram and Facebook, a feature that will apply in the UK, US, Canada and Australia and globally by the end of the year. The Ofcom investigation into TikTok joins a broader clampdown that has already seen large fines issued against dozens of adult sites for non-compliance with the Online Safety Act.