Ofcom investigates TikTok over child safety and age checks

Ofcom has initiated an inquiry to determine if TikTok is adequately safeguarding children from its platform. This investigation follows the UK government's recent decision to prohibit under-16s from accessing various platforms. The regulator will assess TikTok's methods for verifying user age and its effectiveness in shielding minors from inappropriate content. A key aspect of the examination is TikTok's "age inference" technology, which estimates a user's age based on their interactions and viewed videos. Kate Davies, Ofcom's group director for strategy and research, voiced "serious doubts" regarding the reliability of these tools. A spokesperson for TikTok asserted the company's confidence in fulfilling its obligations under the Online Safety Act, having invested "billions" in online safety since its UK launch eight years ago. This investigation follows a May review in which Ofcom criticized TikTok and YouTube for their insufficient safety measures for children. Under the Protection of Children's Codes, effective from 25 July last year, platforms featuring adult content are required to implement verification methods, such as face scans, to ensure users are over 18. Ofcom has already penalized numerous adult sites for non-compliance. TikTok claims that UK users under 18 are automatically placed in an age-appropriate environment, and those who do not provide a birth date indicating they are over 13 cannot create an account.