Ofcom has issued an urgent warning, calling on major sites and apps to enforce their minimum age rules with highly-effective age checks.
As it examines continued failings by these services, the online safety regulator says it has this week written to the major sites and apps that young people use the most – including Facebook, Instagram, Roblox, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube – requiring them to prove to parents a ‘genuine commitment’ to protecting children online.
Since the UK’s online safety laws came into force last year, Ofcom says it has been investigating nearly a hundred different services.
The regulator has taken enforcement action, secured changes to disrupt the sharing of child sexual abuse material, and seen high-risk services either get in line or block access to the UK altogether, as well as ensuring that millions of daily visits to porn sites now require highly effective age checks.
Major platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Telegram, Discord, and Reddit have also introduced age controls to prevent children accessing adult or harmful content.
Four ‘clear’ demands for further action have been set out by the regulator this week – effective minimum-age policies and reinforcement of these, strict child grooming protections, safer feeds and algorithms for children, and an end to product testing – particularly AI tools – on children.
Ofcom says tech and social media platforms ‘must enforce’ their minimum age rules / Credit: Robin Worrall (via Unsplash)
Ofcom says it has given the aforementioned platforms a deadline of 30 April to report back to it on the action they will take, and then the following month, the regulator will report on how the companies have responded and announce any next steps for regulatory action.
ADVERTISEMENT
Speaking on the warning issued this week, Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s Chief Executive, said: “These online services are household names, but they’re failing to put children’s safety at the heart of their products.
“There is a gap between what tech companies promise in private, and what they’re doing publicly to keep children safe on their platforms.
“Without the right protections, like effective age checks, children have been routinely exposed to risks they didn’t choose, on services they can’t realistically avoid. That must now change quickly, or Ofcom will act.”
Featured Image – Julian Christ (via Unsplash)
News
Victim named and murder investigation launched after young woman is killed in Newton Heath stabbing
Emily Sergeant
The victim of a street stabbing in Newton Heath this week has been named for the first time as a murder investigation continues.
It comes after officers from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) responded to reports of a disturbance at around 2am yesterday (Thursday 15 October) on Dorking Avenue, in the Newton Heath area of Manchester, and when they arrived on the scene, they found a woman in her 20s with serious injuries that were ‘consistent with a stabbing’.
Despite best efforts of all emergency services involved, the young woman was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.
As the murder investigation progresses, the woman has now been publicly named and a photo of her has been released for the first time.
She has been named as 26-year-old Alisha Samuels.
At this time, one man, aged 25, has been arrested on suspicion of murder, and a man and woman, aged 61 and 38, have been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, and they all remain in custody – with officers continuing their enquiries to establish the full circumstances of this incident.
Alisha’s family have asked for privacy whilst they deal with the devastating loss of their loved one, GMP has stated.
“We are continuing to urge people who may have information in relation to this incident to please come forward to support our investigation and bring justice for Alisha,” the police force said in a public appeal.
Anyone who may have witnessed the incident, or has mobile phone, CCTV, or doorbell footage, is urged to call GMP on 0161 856 5464, or contact them via the Major Incident Public Portal here.
Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111
Featured Image – GMP (Family Handout)
News
Former supply teacher jailed for multiple upskirting and AI sex offences across Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
A former supply teacher has been jailed for multiple upskirting and AI sex offences in schools across Greater Manchester.
Abusali Rahman – a British national of Bangladeshi ethnicity from Salford – appeared in Bolton Crown Court this week for his sentencing after first being charged with, and then pleading guilty to, several offences.
The offences are including, but not limited to, 12 counts of taking an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child (images obtained by upskirting), three counts of making indecent photograph / pseudo-photograph of a child (making AI-generated images), and one count of attempting to meet girl under 16 following sexual grooming.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between December 2023 and June 2025, according to Greater Manchester Police (GMP).
Twelve girls have been identified in relation to the upskirting offences – aged between 13 and 16 at the time of the alleged offending – at seven high schools in three Greater Manchester boroughs (Bury, Bolton, and Salford).
GMP says it has remained in close contact with the schools, local authorities, and other partners throughout the investigation to ensure all appropriate support is in place for those who need it.
Additionally, the court also heard how Rahman amassed a collection of images of young girls, using AI and other methods to sexualise them.
The images numbered more than 300 in total, ranging from Category A to Category C classifications, and Rahman would post these on social media, often alongside humiliating and disgusting captions.
Rahman was sentenced to six years in prison, and will also be subject to a 20-year Sexual Harm Protection Order.
A former supply teacher has been jailed for child sex offences in schools across Greater Manchester / Credit: GMP
Detective Constable Lisa McGaffin, from GMP’s Bolton Child Protection Team, described Rahman’s crimes as ‘absolutely abhorrent’.
“My thoughts throughout this process have always been with the young girls who have been subject to such indignity,” DC McGaffin said following the sentencing this week. “Their welfare and support will always be a priority for us.
“While working as a teacher – someone who young children should trust and be safe with – Rahman repeatedly took secret photos for his own sick gratification, before posting images online which showed his total disregard for the girls’ respect and dignity.
Emily Sergeant -
13th March 2026 
