If you’ve ever handed a child your phone and let them scroll through TikTok or YouTube unsupervised, Ofcom would quite like a word with you. Actually, it would quite like a word with the platforms themselves.
The UK’s communications regulator has concluded that both TikTok and YouTube are not doing enough to protect children from harmful content, marking a significant escalation in pressure on Silicon Valley’s biggest names. The findings are part of Ofcom’s ongoing work under the Online Safety Act, which gives the regulator real teeth when it comes to enforcing child protection standards.
Ofcom’s concern isn’t simply that inappropriate content exists on these platforms. It’s that the systems designed to catch it, age verification, content filtering, recommendation algorithms, aren’t working reliably enough to keep younger users safe. Children are routinely encountering content about self-harm, eating disorders, and extreme violence, often served up by the very algorithms designed to keep them engaged.
YouTube pushed back, saying it has worked closely with child development experts to create “appropriate experiences” for younger viewers and pointing to features like YouTube Kids as evidence of its commitment. TikTok, for its part, said it was “disappointed” that Ofcom had failed to properly acknowledge the safety measures it already has in place, including screen time limits and restricted mode.
Both responses have a familiar ring to them. Platforms have been giving versions of this answer for the better part of a decade, and regulators have been growing steadily less patient with it.
What makes this moment different is the legislative backdrop. The Online Safety Act isn’t just a stern letter. It carries the possibility of fines worth up to 10% of global annual turnover for platforms that persistently fail to comply. For a company like Google, which owns YouTube, that figure runs into the billions.
Ofcom hasn’t yet moved to enforcement action, but the direction of travel is clear. The regulator has set out specific changes it expects platforms to make, and it will be watching closely to see whether the response is genuine reform or another round of carefully worded press statements.
The bigger question, of course, is whether any amount of regulatory pressure can truly make an algorithm-driven platform safe for an eight-year-old. Some would argue that’s a bit like asking a casino to be safe for someone who can’t stop pulling the lever.
