TikTok Under UK Investigation for Failing to Protect Children Online
Britain's media regulator has opened a formal probe into whether TikTok's age checks are good enough to stop children seeing content about self-harm, suicide and pornography.
Key points
- Ofcom, the UK's official media and communications regulator, launched a formal investigation into TikTok in 2025.
- The probe centres on whether TikTok's age verification, the system it uses to check how old its users are, is working.
- Ofcom has "particular concerns" that children can access content about self-harm, suicide and pornography on the platform.
- The investigation comes almost a year after the Online Safety Act, a UK law requiring platforms to shield children from harmful material, came into force.
Britain's media regulator, Ofcom, has opened a formal investigation into TikTok over fears the platform is not doing enough to keep children safe from harmful content.
The core concern is age verification: the checks TikTok runs to work out whether a user is a child or an adult. Ofcom believes those checks may be too weak, leaving younger users exposed to posts about self-harm, suicide and explicit sexual content.
The investigation was first reported by The Guardian.
Why does this matter to parents?
It means regulators are not satisfied that TikTok is following the rules that already exist. If your child uses TikTok, they may be seeing content the law was specifically designed to block.
The Online Safety Act, a UK law passed to force social media companies to protect children from the worst material online, has been in effect for nearly a year. Ofcom is the body responsible for making sure platforms actually follow it. A formal investigation is a serious step: it can end in fines or other legal consequences for TikTok if the regulator finds the company has broken the rules.
Age verification is the sticking point. TikTok, like most platforms, asks users to enter a birth date when they sign up. Critics have long argued that a child can simply type in a false date and gain full access. Stronger checks, such as asking for a passport scan or a bank card, exist but TikTok has not made them standard.
The regulator has not yet reached a verdict. An investigation means Ofcom is formally gathering evidence, which can take months. TikTok will have the chance to respond.
For parents right now, the practical steps are straightforward. TikTok does offer a "Family Pairing" feature that lets an adult account link to a child's account and set content limits. Turning on that pairing, and checking what content categories are restricted, is the most direct action available while the investigation runs its course.
The broader picture is that regulators across Europe and North America are tightening their grip on how platforms handle younger users. This UK probe is one of the sharper moves yet, because it targets the very mechanism, age checking, that platforms rely on to prove they are protecting children in the first place.
