Tiktok falls under ban just as brands ramp up ad spend
Tiktok’s UK ad business has been growing 40 per cent year on year, with brands increasing spending ahead of what the firm expected to be its biggest trading period on record. But that momentum now faces a test after Keir Starmer confirmed plans to plan under-16s from accessing the platform.
The social media giant, which has spent the past few years repositioning itself from a video-sharing app into a retail and advertising platform, said it would comply with the government’s plans, but warned that restrictions should be applied evenly across the sector.
The proposed legislation will prevent under-16s from accessing platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube and X, while ministers also plan restrictions on livestreaming, contact from strangers and some AI-powered features.
“We feel that any restrictions should be applied consistently across all companies so that younger users are not pushed to less-regulated parts of the internet,” Kris Boger, Tiktok’s UK head of sales, told CityAM.
While Tiktok declined to speculate on the commercial impact of the ban, the changes would affect a generation of future users that brands and retailers have increasingly targeted through the platform’s advertising and shopping ecosystem.
“We’ve really shifted towards being a full-funnel marketing platform,” Boger said.
TikTok says its advertising revenues are growing by 40 per cent year on year, with search activity rising 47 per cent over the same period.
That shift has helped Tiktok attract bigger marketing budgets from retailers and consumer brands, particularly through Tiktok shop and creator-led advertising.
Last year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday period saw sales on Tiktok shop jump 50 per cent year on year, with 27 products sold every second on the platform.
From a social media app to a shopping platform
When Boger joined TikTok six years ago, the platform had fewer than five million monthly users in the UK. Today, the platform hosts over 40 million.
More importantly for advertisers, he argues, user behaviour has fundamentally changed: “When I joined, people were coming to TikTok and they were scrolling on the For You page and it was quite a passive consumption of content.”
“Now it’s much more active. One in four users search in the first 30 seconds when they come to TikTok.”
According to TikTok, there are now billions of searches conducted on the platform every day globally, with users increasingly treating it as a discovery tool for products or restaurants, as well as travel recommendations.
This shift has helped drive spending from brands looking for measurable sales rather than simple awareness campaigns. “Brands are under incredible commercial pressures,” Boger said. “We have to deliver results.”
The company is also betting heavily on the creator economy, having recently partnered with Visa on a creator debit card designed to help influencers access earnings faster, while FIFA has named TikTok its preferred video platform for the 2026 World Cup.
“We speak to brands about the importance of being authentic,” Boger said. “Creators enable that.”
The government’s ban raises wider questions about how creators and advertisers will adapt if younger audiences are removed from mainstream social networks.
And while Tiktok argues its role has expanded far beyond entertainment, ministers have concluded that the risks to children outweigh those benefits.
“This is a decision that is a societal one, and it’s one for Parliament,” Boger said. “We’ll comply with whatever they decide.”