Ofcom Criticizes TikTok and YouTube for Failing to Protect Children from Harmful Content

TikTok, YouTube lag on UK child safety as rivals act, regulator says

LONDON, May 21 (Reuters) - TikTok and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab YouTube have failed to set out meaningful steps to protect British children from harmful online content, media regulator Ofcom said on Thursday, citing data showing widespread exposure on their platforms. Ofcom said neither company had made significant new commitments to make recommendation feeds safer, despite evidence that these feeds are the main route through which children encounter harm. Governments are stepping up efforts to improve child safety online, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging social media firms to take greater responsibility. Britain is consulting on tighter curbs, including a possible ban on under-16s using social media, modelled on Australia's landmark move, to tackle what it calls addictive design features. SYSTEMS STILL FALL SHORT, OFCOM SAYS Ofcom research found 73% ⁠of 11- to 17-year-olds were exposed to harmful content over four weeks, mainly via personalised feeds. TikTok was cited most often, followed by YouTube, Meta's (META.O), opens new tab Instagram and Snap's (SNAP.N), opens new tab Snapchat. Ofcom said TikTok and YouTube maintained their existing systems were sufficient, but the regulator said its evidence suggested their feeds "are still not safe enough". A YouTube spokesperson said: "YouTube provides industry-leading, age-appropriate, high quality experiences for young viewers, working with child safety experts to deliver protections that support millions of families across the UK. "We welcome today's news that others across the industry will soon adopt similar features." A TikTok spokesperson said it was "very disappointing that Ofcom has failed to acknowledge both our longstanding and newer safety features." "We will continue to make ongoing investments in safety measures for our users," the person added. Snap, Meta and Roblox (RBLX.N), opens new tab have all agreed to introduce ⁠stronger protections against online grooming following Ofcom's demands last month. Under those commitments, Snap will block adult strangers from contacting children by default and expand age checks in Britain. Meta plans new controls on teen accounts and AI tools to detect suspicious conversations. Roblox will allow parents to disable direct messaging for under-16s. GOVERNMENT URGED TO STRENGTHEN LAW Nearly a year after new child safety duties under the Online Safety Act took effect, Ofcom said there ⁠had been little overall improvement in children's exposure to harmful content. The regulator said major platforms dominate children's online activity, with YouTube used by 67% of children and TikTok by 60%, and 95% using at least one social media or video-sharing service. It also flagged weak enforcement of minimum age rules, noting ⁠84% of children aged eight to 12 use services requiring users to be at least 13. Ofcom said current legislation does not clearly require companies to keep underage users off their platforms and urged the government to strengthen the law. Separately, Elon Musk's X has agreed ⁠to step up enforcement against illegal hate speech and terrorist content, including reviewing such material within 24 hours on average and sharing quarterly data with the regulator. Ofcom is still examining X's systems and its Grok chatbot after a Reuters report earlier this year found the tool could generate sexualised images in many cases despite user warnings. Reporting by Sam Tabahriti. Editing by Mark Potter Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Litigation * Data Privacy Sam Tabahriti Thomson Reuters Sam Tabahriti is a UK breaking news correspondent covering general and political news for Reuters. He has over five years of experience covering general news and three years covering business and legal news. He is also a keen cyclist and photography enthusiast.

Meta, Snap and Roblox commit to tougher anti-grooming measures in UK - Engadget

UK regulator Ofcom released a study raising concerns that social networks aren't doing enough to protect children online. Ofcom has published a new report, detailing how some of the biggest social networks have responded to its calls for tighter security measures in order to protect children from online harm. The UK regulator said that it emailed Facebook, Instagram, Roblox, Snap, TikTok and YouTube in March after a study it did late last year showed that they aren't doing enough to protect children. One of the regulator's demands, made under the Online Safety Act, is for the platforms to implement protections against online grooming. In response, Snap agreed to roll out default settings that would prevent adults from contacting children they don't know on its app, and it also won't encourage young users to "expand their friendship groups to strangers" anymore. The company told Ofcom that it will release a "highly effective age assurance" system to all UK users this summer, so that it can identify everyone under 18 in the country and apply the new anti-grooming measures to their account. Meanwhile, Meta told the regulator that it will develop a new setting that will hide teenagers' following and follower lists on Instagram by default. In addition, Meta promised to roll out new AI tools that detect sexualized conversations between adults and teens in Instagram DMs. The company will then report offending accounts to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Meta will expand the availability of its "13+ movie style" sensitive content control from Instagram to Facebook, as well, which will limit what teens can see to age-appropriate posts. Roblox, which is thought to have a child predator problem, has committed to implementing age assurance measures so that it only suggests games suitable for a user's age. It will also give parents of users under 16 the ability to switch off chat altogether. Roblox introduced an age verification system last year to limit users' ability to interact with people outside of their age group. It had issues with implementation, however, and kids have been fooling the system simply by drawing mustache and wrinkles on their faces. "TikTok and YouTube have not committed to any significant changes" in response to its demands, Ofcom said. The platforms argued that their feeds are already safe for kids. YouTube told the BBC that it worked with child safety experts to ensure "industry-leading, age-appropriate" experiences for children. "Our research published today shows that nine in ten children aged 8-12 are using online services with a minimum age requirement of 13+, so firms' responses to our demand to enforce these requirements more effectively are concerning," the regulator wrote. Ofcom said it will share its findings and its concerns with the UK government, particularly in response to its call for feedback on whether to introduce a social media ban for children under 16 years old. The UK announced in January that it was thinking of implementing a minimum age ban similar to Australia's, which went into effect in December 2025.

TikTok and YouTube 'not safe enough' for kids, says Ofcom report

Ofcom has criticised TikTok and YouTube, saying in a new report their content feeds are "not safe enough" for children. The findings follow the regulator's call for stronger action on children's online safety, and said Meta, Snap and Roblox had each agreed to stronger anti-grooming measures. Ofcom added it would share concerns that sites were not effectively enforcing minimum age rules with the government, whose consultation on whether to ban social media for under-16s soon ends. YouTube said it worked with child safety experts to provide "industry-leading, age-appropriate" experiences for children. TikTok said it was "very disappointing" Ofcom had failed to acknowledge its safety features. Ofcom's criticism is part of a new report into how five large social media and video platforms responded to its demand for stronger protections for children. "Notably, TikTok and YouTube failed to commit to any significant changes to reduce harmful content being served to children, maintaining their feeds are already safe for children," it said. "Our wealth of evidence, published today, suggests they are still not safe enough." In response, TikTok and YouTube pointed to safety features already in place on their apps - including TikTok stopping direct messaging for under-16s and YouTube's short-form video timer, where parents can set time limits for the scrolling Shorts feed. Social media consultant and analyst Matt Navarra said the criticism illustrated a shift to seeing online harms as "a product problem". "The old debate was, 'did the platform remove harmful content quickly enough?' - the new one has shifted towards, 'why did the platform show it to a child in the first place?'" he said. Ofcom Chief Executive Dame Melanie Dawes said the regulator was "deeply concerned" companies were still failing to take the necessary action to keep underage children off their platforms. A survey by the regulator found 84% of children aged eight to 12 were still using at least one major service with a minimum age of 13, as it warned stronger legislation may be needed. Online safety researcher Prof Victoria Baines said the research was "unsurprising" given the "limited success" found so far in removing accounts belonging to under-16s in Australia following its social media ban. "It may be that some platforms will have to use more behavioural data - what a user is watching, engaging with, and chatting about - to determine whether they really are above the minimum age," she said. Ofcom's report highlighted changes made by Snap, Roblox and Meta which focused on reducing grooming risks. Ofcom said Snap, which owns Snapchat, had agreed to block adult strangers from contacting children by default in the UK, stop encouraging children to add people they do not know, and introduce "highly effective" age checks this summer. A Snapchat spokesperson said it would roll out these measures while "preserving privacy protections and the ability for our community to stay connected with their real friends and family". The report said Roblox would let parents switch off direct chat entirely for under-16s, while Meta would hide teens' Instagram connection lists by default and develop AI tools to detect likely sexualised conversations in DMs. Both TikTok and YouTube pointed to safety features already in place on their apps - including TikTok stopping direct messaging for under-16s and YouTube's short-form video timer, where parents can set time limits for its scrolling Shorts feed. Andy Burrows, chief executive of Molly Rose Foundation, a UK-based online safety charity, welcomed the report, calling big tech platforms "complacent and evasive when it comes to protecting children from preventable harm". He added: "Ofcom will be judged by how quickly it can reduce exposure to online harm. A stronger regulator must be accompanied by a conditional ban on personalised algorithms that continue to push out a tsunami of harmful content to teens." Ofcom said the promises must now be implemented quickly and properly, warning it will act if platforms failed to deliver. The government's consultation on whether to ban social media for under-16s is due to close on 26 May, with the government planning to respond in the summer. On Thursday the Education Committee published its response to the consultation, calling for a ban on social media for under-16s. It also called for urgent action to curb features it said were deliberately designed to drive excessive screen use among under-18s. But it said a ban should only be seen as a starting point for online safety. "The Education Committee's recent report is clear - social media firms cannot be relied upon to self-regulate," the committee's chair, Helen Hayes MP, told the BBC. "Until the safety of children and young people comes before commercial incentives, they will continue to be exposed to the worst of social media and online harms. We need a total reset." She added: "Only a statutory ban on social media for under-16s, as well as restrictions on addictive and high-risk features for under-18s, will keep children safe from harm." Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.

Ofcom Investigates TikTok and YouTube Over Child Safety and Harmful Content

TikTok and YouTube have come under fresh scrutiny from the UK regulator Ofcom after failing to explain how their recommendation systems would stop harmful content from reaching children, even as Snap, Meta, and Roblox agreed to introduce new anti-grooming measures. In a report released on Thursday, Ofcom said it remained "deeply concerned" about children's exposure to harmful content online and warned that companies could face enforcement action under the UK's Online Safety Act if they fail to improve their protections. The regulator said TikTok and YouTube maintained that their feeds were already safe for children, but their evidence suggested otherwise. Harmful content still reaching children: Ofcom challenged those claims with new research showing that nearly 73% of children aged 11 to 17 were exposed to harmful content online over a four-week period. More than a third said they came across such material while scrolling through platform feeds. According to the regulator, 53% of secondary school children who reported seeing harmful content said they encountered it on TikTok, followed by 36% on YouTube, 34% on Instagram, and 31% on Facebook. Ofcom said it had issued legally binding information requests to Meta, TikTok and YouTube seeking details about how their recommendation systems, moderation tools and child safety systems work. The regulator is also considering using new powers under the Online Safety Act to independently inspect how platforms' algorithms, moderation systems and age-checking tools operate in real time. Snap, Meta and Roblox promise new safety measures: In response to that pressure, the companies committed to new protections for UK users. Snap said it will, by default, stop adult strangers from contacting children and end friend suggestions between minors and unknown users. The company also plans to introduce stronger age checks in the UK this summer. Roblox said parents will be able to disable direct messaging entirely for users under 16. Meta, meanwhile, said it plans to hide teenagers' follower and connection lists on Instagram by default. The company also plans to deploy AI tools to detect potentially sexual conversations between adults and minors in direct messages. Ofcom pushes wider crackdown: Despite the new commitments, Ofcom said platforms are still failing to enforce minimum age rules effectively. Its research found that 84% of children aged 8 to 12 were using at least one major platform that officially requires users to be 13 or older. The regulator also said current UK online safety laws do not clearly allow it to force platforms to keep underage users off their services through mandatory age checks. It has now been written to the government seeking stronger legal backing. In April, the regulator finalised legally binding child safety rules requiring platforms to introduce stronger age checks, filter harmful content from children's recommendation feeds, improve moderation systems and give minors greater control over features such as comments, group chats and direct messages. Earlier this month, the regulator said X had agreed to speed up the review of illegal hate speech and militant content after months of pressure. Ofcom said X committed to reviewing suspected illegal hate and terrorism-related posts within 24 hours on average and assessing at least 85% of reports within 48 hours. The regulator's separate investigation into X's moderation systems and Grok AI chatbot is still ongoing. What Ofcom and child safety groups said: Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom's Chief Executive, said: "These changes have the potential to make children's lives safer online. Ofcom's sustained public and private pressure on the tech platforms where children spend most time has delivered some significant safety improvements - particularly against grooming." However, she added: "We remain deeply concerned that, despite overwhelming evidence of harm, companies are still failing to take the necessary action to keep underage children off their platforms and make their feeds safer." Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), said: "For far too long, tech giants have dragged their heels by refusing to address the harmful and addictive content flooding children's feeds and putting them at risk."