The Chinese-owned platform is going to be probed over how it uses the personal information of children aged between 13 and 17 in its social media algorithms to deliver content and whether the app serves up inappropriate or harmful content to children.

An investigation has been launched by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) into TikTok as well as online forum Reddit and picture-sharing site Imgur, which will both be probed over their age-verification measures.

According to the BBC, TikTok said it has "strict and comprehensive measures that protect the privacy and safety of teens" as well as "robust restrictions on the content allowed in teens' feeds".

The organisation reports the probe will also investigate whether the three companies are compliant with the UK's data protection laws and the children's code.

Information Commissioner John Edwards told the BBC: "I don't want to pre-judge how we might look at the Imgur and Reddit matters, but if there are age limits for accessing services, then the platforms have to enforce those in some ways.

"There are a number of different technologies and techniques that are available, I would say, and the degree of rigor, I think, depends in part upon the kinds of risks, the likelihood that children will be accessing those sites.

"I guess a baseline would be: self-declaration is probably not going to cut it if there is content on the site or services on the site that are unsuitable for children under the age of 13."

A spokesperson for Reddit told the organisation there are plans to make changes to the site this year to "address updates to UK regulations around age assurance".