United Kingdom: Adopted Ofcom report on video-sharing platform minor protections

On 14 December 2023, the UK Office of Communications (OFCOM) published its report on the measures adopted by UK-based video-sharing platforms (VSPs) TikTok, Twitch, and Snap to protect minor users. The report finds that, even though all three VSPs limit the creation of accounts to users over 13, it is still possible for them to circumvent this by inputting a false date of birth, while the efficacy of the tools aimed at detecting this is unclear. Additionally, while TikTok and Snap require users to create an account to view a majority of the content on the platform and have a series of parental control tools, Twitch does not require the creation of an account in order even to view content marked as "mature", and it relies on live real-time parental moderation.