Half of children using TikTok and Snapchat are aged between three and 17, says Ofcom
Research conducted by Ofcom found that thesocial media platforms, TikTok and Snapchat, have seen a rise in child users in the United Kingdom last year.
According to the UK media regulator, half of the children using TikTok and Snapchat are aged between 3 and 17.
The research was done as the watchdog’s annual survey of children's and parents’ online attitudes.
There was a slight increase in the popularity of both apps in the previous year, with up to 53% of children using TikTok(up from 50%) and 46% using Snapchat (up from 42%).
However, both companies have been questioned about user safety recently. TikTok has been banned by several governments around the world fromofficial devices over its alleged ties with China while Snapchat has come under fire for not removing minors from the platform.
As per the report, children's usage ofYouTube, WhatsApp and Instagramremained steady (88%, 55% and 41%, respectively), while Meta-owned Facebook witnessed a decline in its users from40% to 34%.
“Children of all ages reported choosing to watch ‘dramatic’ content in various forms when selecting TV shows and films to watch," the report said.
Moreover, the number of three and four-year-oldsusing Snapchat has increased to 17% in 2022, up from 12% the previous year.
TikTok's spokesperson attributed the ban by different governments to“fundamental misconceptions”around the platform's safety protocols.
Meanwhile, Snapchat's spokesperson said that the app'scriticism of underage users "misrepresented its efforts", adding thatthousands of attempts by underage UK users to createSnapchat accounts monthly are blocked and deleted.