TikTok facing UK investigation amid fears over age checks and harm to children

Ofcom concerned TikTok’s age verification is ineffective, leaving some exposed to posts on suicide, self-harm and pornography TikTok is under formal investigation over concerns it has failed to protect children from harmful content, the UK’s online regulator, Ofcom, has announced. The social media platform’s approach to checking the ages of users has sparked “particular concerns” at the watchdog, almost a year after measures to protect children from the worst of online content came into effect under the Online Safety Act. Ofcom said TikTok was using a method of inferring children’s ages that may have failed to correctly identify “a significant proportion of children”, putting them at risk of exposure to harmful content. The regulator said it had not reached any conclusions, but that compliance failures could be punished with fines of up to £18m or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater. Harmful content includes posts about disordered eating, self-harm, suicide and pornography. Ofcom can also apply to have sites blocked or restricted in the UK in the most serious cases. Ofcom said: “This investigation will seek to establish whether there are reasonable grounds to