Report on content harmful to children

Ofcom is required by the Online Safety Act 2023 to review and report on content harmful to children online.

This is our first report under section 63 of the Act, which places a duty on Ofcom to produce and publish a statutory report on content that is harmful to children at least every three years following the passage of the Act.

This report includes our advice as to whether in Ofcom’s opinion it is appropriate to make changes to the kinds of content harmful to children set out in the Act and specifies the changes we recommend. Our advice is informed by a review of recent evidence concerning the incidence of content harmful to children on regulated online services, and the severity of harm that children in the UK suffer, or may suffer, as a result of those kinds of content.

Our recommendations and review in brief:

• In our advice, we recommend that it is appropriate to add body stigma content and depression content, currently identified by Ofcom as kinds of non-designated content, to the category of priority content that is harmful to children. If the Secretary of State takes our recommendation forward, this will ensure that protections for children against these kinds of content are enshrined in the Act.
• At this time, we do not recommend any other changes to the categories of primary priority or priority content that is harmful to children in the Act. We are not recommending changes where we found that the available evidence supports the current categorisation or where proposed legislation is likely to address concerns.
• Most children in the UK say they have encountered at least one piece of harmful content online in a four-week period. According to our evidence, at a total level there was no significant change in the proportion of children encountering harmful content over the first nine months after the children’s safety duties came into force in July 2025. This finding is concerning and shows that further progress is needed to protect children online.
• Exposure to harmful content can have serious impacts on children’s mental and physical wellbeing. Children continue to report that encountering harmful content negatively impacts their wellbeing. There is no new evidence indicating a change to the severity of harm experienced by children as a result of encountering harmful content.

The UK Government has announced its intention to introduce a social media ban for under 16s and additional protections for under 18s to create a safer online environment for children. We will shortly be publishing our rapid assessment of what highly effective age assurance could look like for determining whether someone is 16 or over and are working closely with the government on the implementation of the expected new restrictions. We will continue to drive compliance with the Online Safety Act for services that fall outside the social media ban and to improve the experience of 16–17-year-olds.