Ofcom wants to regulate body-shaming and depression content. Can platforms even detect it?

The UK’s Office of Communications (Ofcom) has recommended that platforms be required to protect children from body-shaming content and content that promotes depression. However, its own evidence cannot yet show whether its existing child safety rules work. In its first report on content harmful to children, published on October 22, Ofcom found no significant change in children’s exposure to harmful content in the nine months after its rules took effect in July 2025.