TikTok faces Ofcom investigation

This article first appeared on the 'old' school website on 17th July 2026. It has been posted here to help populate the new Friary School website.

TikTok is being investigated by Ofcom over concerns that it is not doing enough to keep children safe from harmful content. The media regulator believes that the platform’s age checks are not working well enough. Ofcom has said that simply guessing a user’s age based on the content they watch and interact with is not enough to protect young people.

TikTok faces Ofcom investigation over child age checks – BBC News 

At The Friary, we share these concerns. Through our work supporting children and families with online safety, we have seen that some young people can still access content that is not suitable for their age.

Commenting on the issue, our Online Safety Lead, Steve Neale, said:

“As holders of the SWGfL 360° Safe Online Safety Award, we spend a great deal of time helping our school community understand both the benefits and risks of being online. It’s important that families don’t assume social media platforms will always keep children safe. We strongly encourage parents and carers to take an active interest in their children’s online lives, including who they talk to and the content they are viewing.”