Young teenagers on TikTok can easily access hardcore porn content, a new study has found.

By creating fake accounts for 13-year-olds, researchers at the non-governmental organisation Global Witness were quickly offered highly sexualised search terms. Despite setting the app to “restrictive mode”, the researchers were able to click through to videos showing everything from women flashing to penetrative sex.

Most of these videos had been created in such a way that they were designed to evade discovery, and TikTok has moved swiftly to take them down.

But the fact that they were easy to find is a fresh blow to the UK Online Safety Act. The act, which came into force over the summer, requires tech companies to prevent children from being able to access pornography and other harmful content.

There have already been reports that Meta’s efforts to make Instagram safer for young people are similarly ineffective.

There are also concerns about a surge in VPN downloads and traffic to pirate sites by users aiming to get around the restrictions in the act. Some are now calling for VPNs to be banned, though that seems unlikely.

It would be easy for parents reading these reports to conclude that there is nothing that can be done to make the internet safe for their children. Many will increasingly be tempted to ban access outright rather than try to navigate the risks in a more measured way.

Certainly, the act was introduced for good reason.

© The Conversation