Ofcom warns X over illegal content despite moderation improvements Tech Ofcom has warned Elon Musk’s X it is still failing to effectively tackle illegal hate and terrorist content despite improvements in how quickly the platform responds to reports. The UK watchdog said on Wednesday that X’s first quarterly performance report showed it was meeting agreed deadlines for reviewing suspected illegal material, but raised concerns about [...]
Meta court battle will not delay Instagram probe, Ofcom says Media Meta’s legal challenge against Ofcom has not delayed the regulator’s separate investigation into Instagram, Ofcom has told City AM. The watchdog said the ongoing English High Court proceedings had “not impacted the timing” of its decision to investigate whether Meta broke UK online safety rules when it launched Instagram Instants. The comments come as Meta, [...]
Tiktok to pay £12.7m UK child privacy fine despite disputing watchdog findings Tech Tiktok will pay a £12.7m UK fine over its handling of children’s data after abandoning a three-year legal challenge, despite maintaining that it disagrees with the privacy watchdog’s findings. The social media giant has withdrawn its appeal against a penalty imposed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in 2023, making the fine final. A Tiktok [...]
TikTok loses court battle over £12.7m child privacy fine August 5, 2026 TikTok has lost an appeal against a £12.7m fine from the UK’s data protection regulator for illegally processing the data of over 1.4m children under the age of 13. The watchdog hit TikTok with the penalty in April 2023 for breaching the UK’s data protection law, the GDPR, for unlawfully processing the data of children [...]
David Brent was supposed to be a satire, now he looks like a model for political leaders August 5, 2026 Attention-seeking, self-absorbed and desperate to be liked, David Brent was meant to embody everything a leader should not be – but today’s media landscape rewards the very qualities Ricky Gervais satirised, says Tim Focas A Tiktok clip has gone viral for comparing Andy Burnham to David Brent. His cheesy mannerisms, dad dancing and guitar playing [...]
Tiktok pledges three-stage age checks as it pilots alcohol sales July 22, 2026 Tiktok will strictly enforce age checks to block under-18s from buying or even viewing alcohol on Tiktok Shop, City AM understands, as it expands into one of retail’s most tightly regulated categories. The social media giant said its ecommerce platform is strictly for adults and that alcohol sales are being piloted only with a small [...]
Tiktok ‘confident’ ahead of Ofcom child safety probe July 16, 2026 Tiktok has insisted it is “confident” it complies with the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) after Ofcom launched an investigation into whether the platform is doing enough to stop children accessing harmful content. The watchdog is looking into whether Tiktok’s age verifictions meet the legal requirement to be “highly effective” at identifying child users after [...]
Government accelerates social media crackdown with midnight curfews July 14, 2026 Teenagers will face a default midnight social media curfew and stripped-back social media feeds under the government’s latest crackdown on addictive online features – but they will be able to switch the restrictions off themselves. Tech secretary Liz Kendall has announced social media platforms will disable auto-play and infinite scroll-style recommendations and restrict overnight access [...]
Sadiq Khan urges tougher Ofcom action as UK prepares social media ban rules July 14, 2026 Sadiq Khan has called on social media companies to change algorithms that promote violent and misogynistic material, as London launches a £5m programme to tackle the effect of online harms on young people. The mayor of London also believes the state should be ready to intervene where platforms cannot or will not change their recommendation [...]
Kids aren’t using VPNs to watch porn and skirt social media bans, VPN firms say July 13, 2026 Only around one per cent of children use virtual private networks (VPNs) to access age-restricted content, research commissioned by VPN providers suggests, as the industry awaits a key announcement from government this week over how the under-16 social media ban will be enforced. A YouGov survey commissioned by the VPN Trust Initiative, founded by NordVPN, [...]