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

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. Wire is Fusion42's founder-focused intelligence feed: each story is connected to the funds and startups it names — every one with a live profile on Raise or Scout — so founders can follow the capital and the momentum behind the headline rather than just the headline itself. Wire analysis is one of the live surfaces Arthur, Fusion42's AI co-founder, reasons over.

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.

Read the full story at wired-gov.net

Topics: Enterprise Software · age-verification · child-safety · regulatory-enforcement · social-media · tiktok-investigation

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Verified 16 July 2026 · Sources: Fusion42 review

Age checks helping make online experiences safer for… | Fusion42