Big changes coming to what children see online in the UK
Key Points
- Ofcom wants body stigma and depression content made priority harms for children.
- All tech firms used by children would have to assess and tackle this content.
- Both content types currently sit in the weaker non-designated category.
- The Secretary of State will now consider Ofcom’s recommendation.
- Ofcom will soon publish age assurance plans for the under-16 social media ban.
Ofcom wants body stigma and depression content treated as priority harms to UK children. The communications regulator made the recommendation on Friday (23 October) in its first statutory review of content harmful to children under the Online Safety Act.
If the Secretary of State accepts the advice, the law would recognise both types of content as priority harms. Every tech firm that children use would then have to assess the risk this content poses to children and take proactive steps to protect them from it.
Ofcom currently classes body stigma and depression content as non-designated harms. Under that classification, tech firms only have to assess the risk such material poses to children where they have already identified it on their service.
The review drew mainly on evidence from the first nine months after the children’s safety duties came into force in July 2025.
It examined how often harmful content appears on regulated online services and how severely it affects children in the UK. Ofcom said the findings reinforced the call to action it issued to platforms earlier this year.
The regulator raised serious concerns about the industry’s rate of progress at the time and demanded that platforms strengthen their protections for children.
Social media ban
The recommendation comes as the UK Government prepares to introduce a social media ban for under-16s, alongside additional protections for under-18s.
Ofcom said it would shortly publish a rapid assessment of what highly effective age assurance could look like for checking whether someone is 16 or over.
The regulator added that it was working closely with the government on implementing the expected new restrictions.
It will also continue to enforce the Online Safety Act for services that fall outside the ban and work to improve the online experience of 16- and 17-year-olds.
