The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) — the country’s data protection authority — has opened a formal investigation into TikTok over how the platform processes the personal information of teenagers aged 13 to 17. The investigation focuses specifically on TikTok’s recommendation algorithm: how it decides which videos to show younger users, and what data it collects in the process. TikTok has already challenged the ICO’s information requests in court, appealing against a formal notice requiring it to hand over documents and information related to the probe.
The ICO has also written directly to Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter), asking each platform to demonstrate how their age-checking measures meet current expectations under UK data protection law. While those letters stop short of formal investigations for now, the ICO said it has “concerns about the limited progress” platforms have made on age verification and is “ready to use the full range of regulatory powers available” — which includes financial penalties and legal enforcement. Reddit is separately under scrutiny alongside TikTok. This comes as the UK government has announced plans to ban under-16s from creating social media accounts, with platforms expected to verify users’ ages before allowing sign-ups.