Ofcom Safety Bulletin: Stricter Checks on Social Media, Dating Apps

19th March 2026 Staff Writer

Ofcom has published a new Online Safety Industry Bulletin outlining progress, enforcement actions, and upcoming obligations under the UK’s Online Safety Act. The quarterly update targets regulated service providers – including social media, dating, gaming, and messaging apps – highlighting intensified expectations for child protection and new compliance requirements.

A key focus is Ofcom’s formal demands sent to the platforms children use most frequently: Facebook, Instagram, Roblox, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube. The regulator has set a 30 April 2026 deadline for these services to respond with concrete plans addressing four priority areas:

Ending untested product changes that reach children, requiring risk assessments before significant updates.
Enforcing minimum-age rules with highly effective age assurance (Ofcom research shows 72% of 8–12-year-olds still access 13+ platforms).
Implementing failsafe grooming protections, including age checks to block stranger contact.
Making recommendation algorithms safer for children, with legally binding information requests already issued to assess recommender systems.

Ofcom warned that unsatisfactory responses will trigger enforcement action, with progress reports expected in May 2026.Enforcement highlights include fines against adult services for inadequate age assurance: 8579 LLC (£1.35 million plus daily penalties) and Kick Online Entertainment SA (£800,000 plus penalties). New investigations target X (formerly Twitter) over Grok AI-generated content concerns, two image boards for illegal material risks, and other providers for pornographic content access.

These new age check requirements are meant to target a range of apps and niches, from social media platforms and dating apps to messaging and gaming. A major upcoming change is the duty to report child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) content to the National Crime Agency (NCA), effective 7 April 2026. All regulated user-to-user services must report detected and unreported CSEA (UK-linked for non-UK providers), with registration now open via the NCA’s industry portal.