Ofcom Investigates TikTok Age Inference Technology Over Child Safety Doubts

Ofcom Scrutinizes TikTok’s Age Inference Technology

The UK’s media regulator, Ofcom, has officially opened an investigation into TikTok’s safety protocols. At the core of the inquiry is the company’s use of age inference—a technical method that approximates a user’s age by analyzing their interactions with the platform, such as the specific videos they watch or the accounts they engage with. This investigation comes one month after the UK government announced that those under the age of 16 would be banned entirely from a range of platforms.

Kate Davies, Ofcom’s group director for strategy and research, expressed significant skepticism regarding the reliability of these automated estimates. Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, Davies noted that the regulator has “serious doubts” over whether such tools are good enough at checking the age of users. Davies stated: “This is where TikTok comes in. We found that some method of age checks being used by social media are not working well enough.”

The regulator requires social media platforms, among others, to use highly effective methods to check that users are old enough to use them and to prevent children from seeing harmful material. Regarding the current technology in use, Davies said: We have very serious questions about whether age inference can be highly effective.

TikTok’s Defense and Investment in Safety

In response to the probe, a TikTok spokesperson maintained that the company remains in compliance with its regulatory obligations. The spokesperson said: “We’re confident that we meet our Online Safety Act obligations and will work with Ofcom to demonstrate it.”

The company further stated that it has invested “billions” in online safety since launching in the UK eight years ago. TikTok officials asserted that their age-appropriate rules are expert-informed and consistent with the practices of other major industry peers. “We strictly enforce age-appropriate experiences through expert-informed platform rules and advanced age inference technologies, in line with major industry peers,” the spokesperson added.

Regulatory Pressure and the Protection of Children

This investigation follows a review by the regulator in May, which criticised the platform for not being “safe enough” for children and called for stronger action on children’s online safety. The current regulatory environment is particularly strict; as noted by Ofcom, the UK government has recently moved to restrict access to various digital platforms for those under the age of 16.

The scrutiny of TikTok is part of a broader regulatory enforcement effort. Since July 25 of last year, the Protection of Children’s Codes has required sites hosting adult content to utilize rigorous verification tools, such as face scans, to ensure a UK visitor is over the age of 18. Ofcom has already had to take action, including issuing large fines, against dozens of adult sites over suspected or proven non-compliance. By turning its attention toward social media’s age inference tools, the regulator is signaling an expansion of its oversight into how mainstream apps police their user base.

TikTok is not the only company using age inference technology. Instagram also deploys it, among other methods, to identify where a person might be a child lying about their age. According to platform policy, UK users are placed into an age-appropriate experience for under-18s by default until they are understood to be an adult. Furthermore, people who fail to enter a date of birth that puts them over the age of 13 when they create an account are prohibited from making a new one, for instance by trying to enter a different date of birth.

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