Tiktok: Children
Question
Jim Shannon
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has had recent discussions with representatives from Tiktok on enforcing age restrictions on its platform for children under the age of 13.
Answer
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with social media platforms, such as TikTok, to discuss a range of issues relating to online safety. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
Under the Online Safety Bill, services which are likely to be accessed by children, such as TikTok, will be required to provide safety measures for children to protect them from inappropriate and harmful content or activity. Providers which have age restrictions will be required to specify in their terms of service what measures they use to prevent underage access and apply these terms consistently. This will mean providers can be held to account for what they say in their terms of service, and can no longer do nothing to prevent underage access.
Ahead of the Bill, video-sharing platform (VSP) providers currently regulated by the VSP regime, including Tiktok, are required to take ‘appropriate measures’ to protect under-18s from potentially harmful material. Appropriate measures could include, but are not limited to, age assurance, parental controls, and comprehensive terms and conditions.