Tiktok has insisted it is “confident” it complies with the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) after Ofcom launched an investigation into whether the platform is doing enough to stop children accessing harmful content.
The watchdog is looking into whether Tiktok’s age verifictions meet the legal requirement to be “highly effective” at identifying child users after raising concerns that its age inference technology may have failed to detect a “significant proportion” of children.
A TikTok spokesperson told City AM: “We strictly enforce age-appropriate experiences through expert-informed platform rules and advanced age inference technologies, in line with major industry peers.”
“In the eight years since Tiktok launched in the UK, we have invested billions in platform safety. We are confident that we meet our Online Safety Act obligations and will work with Ofcom to demonstrate this.”
The investigation follows Ofcom’s latest reports on children’s online experiences and age assurance, which questioned whether behavioural age estimation alone is sufficiently accurate to comply with the Online Safety Act.
If Ofcom ultimately finds Tiktok has breached the rules, it has the power to impose fines of up to £18m or 10 per cent of qualifying global revenue, whichever is higher, and in the most serious cases seek court orders to block access to the service or cut off advertising and payment providers.
However, an Ofcom spokesperson told City AM: “The opening of this investigation does not mean that we have reached any conclusions about whether TikTok has breached its duties. We are at a very early stage of our investigation and cannot prejudge its outcome.”
The regulator also cast doubt on age inference models, which estimate a user’s age from behaviour rather than requiring formal verification.
An Ofcom spokesperson told City AM: “Evidence in our report reinforces our long-standing, serious doubts about the effectiveness of some of these models. In some cases, companies may be failing to correctly detect significant numbers of children on their platforms, meaning children risk being exposed to harmful content.”
They added: “Our investigation will establish whether Tikt ok’s age checks are effective in preventing children from encountering harmful content on its platform.”
Ofcom stressed that while companies can use methods other than those listed in its guidance, they must be able to prove with “reliable and compelling evidence” that those systems are highly effective.
The watchdog also said business disruption measures, including blocking access to a service in the UK, remain reserved for “the most serious cases” involving ongoing non-compliance.
Joanna Ludlam, co-chair of Jenner & Block’s investigations practice, said: “This is a good example of the OSA moving from guidance and reporting into live enforcement action”.
“Any platform relying on inference-based rather than verification-based age checks should treat this as a live compliance signal, not just a Tiktok story.”
The investigation comes as ministers prepare to expand online protections for children, including a social media ban for under-16s from next year and new default overnight curfews for 16 and 17-year-olds.
Earlier this week, Ofcom said it was ready to work with the government as those new measures are introduced.
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