Ofcom's own evidence names four social media platforms using an age-check method it will not call effective. Only TikTok faces an investigation for it, and the October update Ofcom promised has not shown up three months on.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
In short. Ofcom opened an investigation into TikTok's compliance with section 12 of the Online Safety Act on 16 July 2026, citing its own newly published Age Assurance report. That report found four social media services using age inference, a method Ofcom's own guidance does not recognise as capable of being highly effective, but it named none of them (pages 36 and 38). The investigation case page named one: TikTok. Ofcom said the first stage of its work was "likely to take at least three months" and promised "an update on this investigation in October 2026." The three months ran out on 16 October. As of this check, the case page has not changed since the day it opened. Two documented mistakes: four stars.
TikTok is the platform children in the UK name most often when asked where they saw something harmful. Ofcom's own Children's Online Safety Tracker, published in its Children's Online Experiences report, found TikTok "the most commonly recalled service for exposure to harmful content" among 11 to 17 year olds, with a rising share of users reporting exposure at Wave 2 of the tracker, and the service most often cited by children who had seen the most serious category of harmful content, primary priority content, at 42% [3] (pages 21 and 23). That is a real, checkable basis for regulatory concern, and this site has no quarrel with it.
On 16 July 2026, Ofcom opened a formal investigation into TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited "to examine its compliance with its duties under the Act," specifically the section 12(4) and (6) duty to use age assurance "highly effective at correctly determining whether or not a particular user is a child" [1]. The case page sets out why now: "the Age Assurance report, published today, suggests that in some cases age inference models, such as those used by TikTok, may have failed to correctly identify a significant proportion of children" [1].
The report it points to is the same one this site has already tested. It says plainly that age inference, "whereby users declare their age upon access and age inference models are used to subsequently infer whether a user is an adult or a child," is "not included in our non-exhaustive list of methods that are capable of being highly effective in our HEAA guidance" (page 36) [2]. It then records who is doing it: "Four analysed social media services used age inference as the first layer of their age-assurance approach... The age inference models on all four services were developed by the service itself and based on proprietary technology" (page 38) [2]. Four services. Not named, anywhere in the report's 89 pages. TikTok's own public statement, given to The Record the day the investigation opened, confirms it is one of the users of the method: TikTok said it enforces "age-appropriate experiences through expert-informed platform rules and advanced age inference technologies, in line with major industry peers" [5]. "In line with major industry peers" is TikTok's own phrase, and it lines up with the report's count of four. Nothing in Ofcom's published evidence explains why one of the four was named and investigated while the other three were not, nor what, if anything, is happening to them.
The case page sets its own clock. "Our first step will be to use our formal powers to gather and analyse evidence to determine whether a breach has occurred. This is likely to take at least three months. We will provide an update on this investigation in October 2026" [1]. Three months from 16 July is 16 October, which passed two days before this check. Ofcom knows how to mark a genuine update when it makes one: its case page on the online suicide forum investigation carries its own dated stamp, "Published: 20 July 2026, Last updated: 17 August 2026," after new facts changed the picture less than a month in [4]. The TikTok case page carries no such stamp. It is still dated "Published: 16 July 2026" alone, word for word the opening text, with nothing added.
The claims, tested
| The case page's own words | What the cited evidence actually shows | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| "The Age Assurance report... suggests that in some cases age inference models, such as those used by TikTok, may have failed" [1] | The report records four unnamed services using age inference (page 38) [2], none identified, with TikTok's link supplied by its own public statement, not the report | TikTok's use of the method is independently confirmed by TikTok itself; the report Ofcom cites does not supply that link on its own |
| "We will provide an update on this investigation in October 2026" [1] | No update, no dated stamp, no change to the page since 16 July; Ofcom's own suicide forum case page shows the regulator does add a "Last updated" line when it has news [4] | The promised update has not appeared with less than two weeks of the named month left |
| "This is likely to take at least three months" [1] | Three months from 16 July 2026 is 16 October 2026, which has passed | The regulator's own minimum estimate has elapsed with no public word on what the formal evidence-gathering found |
The mistakes, counted
Ofcom names TikTok beside a finding its own cited report keeps anonymous, without saying so (1). The Age Assurance report identifies four social media services using age inference and declines to name any of them, twice, in the passages that matter (pages 36 and 38) [2]. The investigation case page cites that report as the evidentiary basis for naming TikTok specifically, "such as those used by TikTok" [1], without disclosing that the link rests on TikTok's own public admission rather than anything in the report itself, and without any account of the other three.
A promised October update has not arrived, and the regulator's own minimum timeline has already run out (2). "At least three months" from 16 July is 16 October; "an update... in October 2026" is a commitment to the whole month, not just its last day, and as of this check, two weeks in, the case page is identical to the one published on the day the investigation opened [1]. Ofcom's own practice elsewhere shows it can and does post a dated update within weeks when there is one to give [4].
Credit where due
The underlying concern is real and Ofcom's own research supports it without needing to borrow anyone else's numbers: TikTok is the service UK children most often name when asked where they saw harmful content, and one of two platforms with the highest share of exposed users among those who use it [3] (pages 21, 23 to 24). The case page is also careful to say what an open investigation is not: "the opening of an investigation does not mean that Ofcom has reached any conclusion about whether the provider has breached its duties" [1], and TikTok's own response is recorded fairly in the public record this piece draws on, stating it believes it meets its obligations and will work with the regulator to demonstrate it [5]. This piece makes no finding about the competence of any named Ofcom official or TikTok employee; the criticism is of what the regulator's own published case page does and does not say, not of any individual's conduct.
Verdict
Two mistakes, both about what Ofcom's own published words leave out rather than get wrong: a company named beside evidence that does not name it, and a deadline that has quietly passed. Four stars. Readers who want to know whether TikTok's age checks actually work will have to wait for Ofcom to say so, on a page that currently gives no sign that is coming this month.
Sources
- Investigation into TikTok's compliance with duties to protect children from encountering harmful content under section 12, Ofcom, published 16 July 2026
- Report on the use of age assurance, Ofcom, published 15 July 2026
- Children's Online Experiences research report, Ofcom, published 21 May 2026
- Ofcom update: Online suicide forum investigation and review of enforcement powers, Ofcom, published 20 July 2026, last updated 17 August 2026
- Ofcom investigation of TikTok age verification, The Record, Suzanne Smalley, published 16 July 2026