Ofcom Finds No Significant Fall in Children Harmed by Social Media Under UK Safety Rules

Ofcom called the finding “concerning” and said there was no evidence indicating a change in the severity of harm since the rules took effect. Under the act, platforms including TikTok and Instagram were required to protect children from pornography, serious violence, suicide material, racism, misogyny and bullying. Ofcom’s review tracked UK children aged eight to 17 on user-to-user services, their exposure to harmful content and its impact, their use of safety tools and their wellbeing after exposure. The assessment was shared with Lisa Nandy, the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport.

The review said personalised recommendation feeds powered by “for you” algorithms were repeatedly found at the root of the continuing flow of harmful material. Examples included children being shown the murder of Charlie Kirk, graphic pornography and weapon-related content that made them feel unsafe in their schools and neighbourhoods. Children most commonly reported encountering pornographic content through personalised feeds, and girls in particular reported feeling confused or upset after seeing such content. Suicide and eating disorder content was also driven mostly through personal feeds, with girls most likely to encounter both types of material. Ofcom also found that young men and boys consuming motivational and self-improvement content could rapidly be exposed to more extreme material including the promotion of misogyny and racism. Misspelled hashtags and coded language were often used to bypass moderation systems that would otherwise block harmful misogynistic content.

The findings came a week after a coroner concluded that access to suicide-related material on TikTok may have played a significant part in the decision of Adriana Retyte, a 14-year-old pupil at Langley school in Norfolk, to take her own life in May. They came a day after Clavicular, a 20-year-old social media influencer who promotes surgery and drugs as part of extreme male beauty regimes and has appeared with Andrew Tate, pleaded not guilty to rape in a US court, raising fresh concerns about the influence of “manosphere” content creators.

The child protection charity NSPCC said the findings showed that children were being exposed to harmful content at an “alarming rate,” which it said was echoed in the flow of calls for help to Childline, its online and telephone support service. Rani Govender, the head of child safety online, said “progress is not happening nearly fast enough.” She said tech companies had months to act, but too many platforms were still built to keep children hooked, with algorithms continuing to push harmful content to young users. She called for stronger action to rein in features that drive harm and to stop putting business interests over safety obligations.

Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive, told MPs this week: “We do not see a safety culture from these large social media companies.” The regulator is already facing legal actions from tech companies challenging its powers, including Meta, TikTok and X. It has warned that it risks being “absolutely clobbered legally by deep-pocketed individuals and firms.”

Ian Russell, the father of Molly Russell, who took her life aged 14 in 2017 after viewing suicide material on social media, told The Guardian the lack of progress was “staggering but sadly not surprising.” He blamed “timidity and lack of action” from the regulator and said: “It is time that Ofcom stood up for children and investigated the major flaws in TikTok and Instagram’s design features, not just small technicalities that have been their focus so far.”

An Ofcom spokesperson said the industry had been unregulated and unaccountable for more than 20 years. The spokesperson said significant progress was being made, including the introduction of widespread age checks, stronger protections against grooming and tougher safeguards against child sexual exploitation.