Ofcom, the UK's online safety regulator, has conceded that the landmark measures designed to shield children from harmful material on social media have not reduced the proportion of young people suffering harm. Its review of the first nine months of the children's safety duties found the share of children being fed unsafe content was almost unchanged, according to its assessment of platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

The duties, introduced under the Online Safety Act in summer 2025, require tech firms to protect children from harmful content including pornography, serious violence, suicide material, racism, misogyny and bullying. Ofcom's tracking covered UK children aged eight to 17, examining their exposure to harmful content on user-to-user services, its impact, their use of safety tools and their wellbeing afterwards.

What the review found

In the nine months after the children's safety duties came into force in July 2025, the regulator found no significant change in the proportion of children encountering harmful content. It described the finding as concerning and said there was no evidence indicating a change in the severity of harm since the regulations took effect.

The harms children reported were stark. Examples included children being shown the murder of Charlie Kirk, graphic pornography and weapon-related content that left them feeling unsafe in schools and neighbourhoods.

There were some bright spots in the data. Ofcom recorded reductions in harmful content on platforms including the games Minecraft and Call of Duty, alongside YouTube, Pinterest and Facebook. The regulator also noted that the data did not cover the period from this spring, when it said it stepped up pressure on Facebook, YouTube, Snap, Roblox and TikTok over child safety issues.

The assessment was shared with Lisa Nandy, the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport.

Algorithms at the root

Ofcom repeatedly found that personalised recommendation feeds powered by "for you" algorithms were at the root of the continuing flow of harmful material to children.

• •Children most commonly reported encountering pornographic content via personalised feeds, and girls in particular reported feeling confused or upset after such content.
• •Suicide and eating disorder content was also driven mostly through personal feeds, with girls the most likely to encounter both types of harmful material.
• •According to the regulator, boys who start out watching motivational and self-improvement videos can quickly find themselves shown more extreme material that promotes misogyny and racism.
• •Creators of such material dodge moderation, Ofcom found, by using misspelled hashtags and coded language that slip past systems built to block misogynistic content.

Regulator under pressure

Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom's chief executive, told MPs this week: "We do not see a safety culture from these large social media companies."

Ofcom is also fighting on several fronts. Tech companies including Meta, TikTok and X, owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX group, have brought legal actions challenging the regulator's powers, and Ofcom has warned it risks being "absolutely clobbered legally by deep-pocketed individuals and firms". In July it launched an investigation into TikTok over child safety concerns, including how the platform checks whether users are adults or children.

An Ofcom spokesperson defended the record: "This is an industry that's been unregulated and unaccountable for more than 20 years." The spokesperson said significant progress is being made, including widespread age checks and stronger protections against grooming, but added that the regulator is under no illusion that much remains for the industry to do, and that tech firms that don't comply with their duties can expect enforcement action.

Campaigners call for faster action

The NSPCC said children were being exposed to harmful content at an "alarming rate", a picture echoed in calls to Childline, and that progress is not happening nearly fast enough. Rani Govender, the charity's head of child safety online, said "progress is not happening nearly fast enough".

Govender said algorithms continue pushing harmful content to young users, and urged stronger action from tech companies to rein in the features that drive harm to children rather than putting business interests over safety obligations.

Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly took her life aged 14 in 2017 after viewing suicide material on social media, called the lack of progress "staggering but sadly not surprising". Blaming timidity and lack of action from the regulator, he said: "It is time that Ofcom stood up for children and investigated the major flaws in TikTok and Instagram's design features."

Mitali Sud, senior policy manager at Internet Matters, warned that a ban alone will not settle the problem. "A social media ban cannot replace the need to make online services safer for children," she said, noting that children will continue to face risks on services covered by the act but not the proposed ban, such as gaming and messaging platforms, and that 16- and 17-year-olds will still use social media.

The government says it is taking bold action, including banning social media services from offering their platforms to under-16s and protecting children from harmful functionalities such as livestreaming and stranger communications across a wide range of services, including gaming. A government spokesperson said platforms have a moral and legal duty to protect children and are expected to help set a new normal for future generations.

The next step is a planned Australia-style social media ban in the UK for under-16s, due from next spring, covering Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and X but not messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal. TikTok, Meta, X and Google were contacted for comment.