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Wire · regulatory

Age checks helping make online experiences safer for UK children, but 'job not done' and ...

Published

16 July 2026

Topic

regulatory

Sectors

Enterprise Software

Geography

United Kingdom

Source

Read at wired-gov.net

Verified

Fusion42 · 16 July 2026 · Fusion42 review

Ofcom reports that age checks on UK adult sites have doubled in effectiveness over six months, but finds serious gaps: TikTok faces formal investigation for weak age-inference methods, search engines return porn sites without age checks, and the regulator warns social media companies that age-inference alone will not meet the forthcoming under-16s ban.

This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of Enterprise Software.

◆ The Wire takeaway

If you build age-verification or content-moderation tech for social platforms or search, Ofcom just told the market which methods don't work—and investigation of TikTok signals enforcement teeth. Age inference is now a liability; the regulator will demand proof or force a switch to your alternative.

Coverage

1 source · 16 Jul 2026

Related on Wire

Topics

Enterprise Softwareage-verificationchild-safetyregulatory-enforcementsocial-mediatiktok-investigation