The United Kingdom’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has criticised TikTok and YouTube in a new report, saying their content recommendation feeds are still “not safe enough” for children in the country.
The report follows Ofcom’s push for tougher online protections for minors and revealed that Meta, Snap and Roblox had each agreed to introduce stronger anti-grooming measures.
Ofcom also said it would share concerns with the UK government over what it described as weak enforcement of minimum age requirements on social media platforms.
The government’s consultation on whether children under 16 should be banned from using social media is expected to conclude soon.
YouTube defended its approach, saying it worked with child safety experts to provide “industry-leading, age-appropriate” experiences for children.
TikTok, meanwhile, described it as “very disappointing” that Ofcom failed to acknowledge the safety tools already available on its platform.
According to the regulator, the criticism formed part of a broader review into how five major social media and video-sharing platforms responded to its demands for stronger child safety protections.
“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,” Ofcom said.
“Our wealth of evidence, published today, suggests they are still not safe enough.”
In response, both TikTok and YouTube highlighted existing safety measures on their apps. TikTok noted that direct messaging is disabled for users under 16, while YouTube pointed to its Shorts timer feature, which allows parents to set time limits on the scrolling short-form video feed.
Social media analyst Matt Navarra said the criticism reflected a changing approach to tackling online harm.
“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 Melanie Dawes said the regulator remained “deeply concerned” that companies were still failing to take adequate steps to prevent underage children from accessing their platforms.
A survey conducted by the regulator found that 84 per cent of children aged between eight and 12 were using at least one major platform with a minimum age requirement of 13. Ofcom warned that stronger legislation might become necessary.
Online safety researcher Victoria Baines said the findings were “unsurprising,” citing the “limited success” recorded so far in Australia’s attempts to remove accounts belonging to under-16s following its social media restrictions.
“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.
The report also highlighted measures introduced by Snap, Roblox and Meta to reduce grooming risks for children online.
Ofcom said Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, had agreed to automatically block adult strangers from contacting children in the UK, stop recommending unknown users to minors, and introduce what it described as “highly effective” age verification checks later this summer.
A Snapchat spokesperson said the company would implement the measures while “preserving privacy protections and the ability for our community to stay connected with their real friends and family”.
Roblox, according to the report, will allow parents to completely disable direct messaging for users under 16, while Meta plans to hide teenage Instagram users’ connection lists by default and expand artificial intelligence tools designed to detect potentially sexualised conversations in direct messages.
Andy Burrows, chief executive of the UK-based online safety charity Molly Rose Foundation, welcomed the findings and accused major technology firms of being “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 warned that the promised measures must now be implemented quickly and effectively, stressing that it would act against platforms that failed to comply.
Debate over whether children under 16 should be banned from social media in the UK also continues to intensify.
The government’s consultation on the issue is due to close on 26 May, with an official response expected during the summer.
On Thursday, the Education Committee backed calls for a social media ban for under-16s and demanded urgent action against features designed to encourage excessive screen time among children and teenagers.
“The Education Committee’s recent report is clear – social media firms cannot be relied upon to self-regulate,” committee chair Helen Hayes 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.”
