UK regulator asks if TikTok is failing to protect children

The UK’s media regulator launched an investigation into TikTok on Thursday to understand whether its UK unit failed or is failing to protect children from harmful content.

A month ago, the government imposed a blanket ban on social media for users under the age of 16 years and placed restrictions on gaming and live-streaming platforms.

Here are some more details on the investigation:

• Ofcom will look into whether the platform has measures to assess if a particular user is a child and adequate systems and processes to prevent children from viewing harmful content.
• In May, the regulator said TikTok had failed to set out meaningful steps to protect British children from harmful online content.
• The opening of an investigation does not mean that Ofcom has reached any conclusion about whether the provider has breached its duties, the regulator said.
• TikTok denied any breaches: “We strictly enforce age-appropriate experiences through expert-informed platform rules and advanced age inference technologies, in line with major industry peers,” a TikTok spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
• “We are confident that we meet our Online Safety Act obligations and will work with Ofcom to demonstrate this.”

Reuters