TikTok, YouTube 'still not safe enough' for children, warns UK watchdog

Social media platforms TikTok and YouTube have failed to commit to "any significant changes" to reduce harmful content and are "still not safe enough" for children, Britain's regulator said Thursday.

TikTok and YouTube have "failed to commit to any significant changes" to reduce harmful content being served to children, despite maintaining that their feeds are already safe for children, according to a report by Ofcom.

"Our wealth of evidence, published today, suggests they are still not safe enough," it said.

The watchdog underlined that since children's online safety duties came into force in July 2025 in the UK, there has been "little change" in children's overall exposure to harmful content, with nearly three-quarters of 11- to 17-year-olds (73%) encountering it in a four-week period.

"Just over a third (35%) of these children recalled exposure to harmful content when they were 'scrolling on their feed," according to Ofcom data.

It added that half of secondary school-aged children who saw harmful content recalled encountering it on TikTok (53%), followed by YouTube (excluding YouTube kids) (36%), Instagram (34%), and Facebook (31%).

An Ofcom survey in November and December last year revealed that seven in 10 children aged 11 to 17 said they had experienced harmful content online, while only 15% told an adult about what they had seen.

"Our latest research shows that 84% of children aged 8-12 are still using one of the top five reaching online services, (YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat) despite a minimum age of 13," it added.

The watchdog also said it has issued in-depth, legally-binding requests for information to Meta, TikTok and YouTube on how they detect and prevent children from being exposed to harmful content, and is currently reviewing their responses.