Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, has opened a formal investigation into TikTok over concerns that the platform may not be doing enough to protect children from harmful content under a law called the Online Safety Act 2023 Engadget. The regulator stressed that no conclusions have been reached.

The law in question, Section 12 of the Online Safety Act, requires online platforms that children are likely to use to actively manage the risks of harm to young users and prevent them from seeing harmful content. The investigation page is published on Ofcom's website Ofcom.

A central concern is how TikTok checks the age of its users. Ofcom published a separate report questioning the effectiveness of TikTok's age inference approach. Age inference means the platform tries to guess how old a user is based on their behaviour — what they watch and how they interact with the app — rather than asking for proof of age like a driver's licence or passport Engadget. The regulator has already said that age inference is not reliable enough for adult-content websites and other services that should not have children on them at all. Applying that same judgment to TikTok, a platform used by hundreds of millions of people, raises different and arguably bigger questions.

TikTok updated its age verification rules at the beginning of 2026, reinforcing its commitment to keeping children under 13 off the platform Engadget. Under the current process, users must enter their birthdate when they sign up. Those who are too young are blocked from immediately trying again with a different age. TikTok says it runs multiple checks, including its age inference model, a review of profile information, and a review of videos the user has posted. Accounts that look suspicious are escalated to a human moderator.

A TikTok spokesperson told Engadget that the company has invested billions in platform safety in the eight years since TikTok launched in the UK and is confident it meets its Online Safety Act obligations.

The investigation does not arrive on its own. In May 2026, Ofcom published research finding that 73% of 11- to 17-year-olds in the UK were exposed to harmful content over a four-week period, primarily through the personalised feeds that recommend videos to users based on their interests Reuters. Shortly after, Ofcom criticised TikTok and YouTube in a report stating their content feeds are "not safe enough" for children BBC. In the same period, Ofcom pressured Meta, Snap, and Roblox, which committed to tougher anti-grooming measures in the UK. TikTok and YouTube did not commit to significant changes at that time Engadget.

Ofcom has a documented history of friction with TikTok on child safety matters. In July 2024, the regulator fined TikTok £1.875 million for failing to accurately respond to a formal request for information about its parental controls safety feature Ofcom. In December 2023, Ofcom published a report examining how video-sharing platforms TikTok, Snap, and Twitch protect children from accessing potentially harmful videos Ofcom.

The stakes under the Online Safety Act are substantial. Platforms that fail to comply can be fined up to £18 million (around $24 million) or 10% of their qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater. In more serious cases, a court order can be issued requiring third parties such as advertisers to stop doing business with the platform Engadget.

The broader context here is that Ofcom's focus on age inference touches a problem the technology industry has not yet solved. Guessing a user's age from their behaviour is cheap, easy for users, and works at massive scale, but it is still a guess. The regulator's own research showing widespread exposure to harmful content, combined with its earlier rejection of age inference for adult-content platforms, suggests Ofcom may be moving toward a position where behavioural age estimation alone is not good enough for any service that has duties to protect children. For platforms like TikTok, where the recommendation system is the main way children encounter harmful content, the question of how old a user is and the question of what content they see are deeply connected.

What remains uncertain is whether Ofcom will settle for improvements to TikTok's current processes or push for deeper changes to how the platform's recommendation feeds work for younger users. The investigation is at an early stage, and Ofcom has been careful not to signal its conclusions. But the financial penalties available under the Act, and the option of court orders that could target TikTok's relationships with advertisers, give the regulator leverage that goes well beyond the fines seen so far.