4,638 TikTok-Linked Crimes Logged by West Midlands Police
West Midlands Police logged 4,638 crimes that mentioned TikTok between 2023 and 2025, new Freedom of Information data shows.
Among the victims, 274 were under the age of 13.
What the FOI Data Actually Shows
The figures, obtained by law firm JF Law through a Freedom of Information request, span the West Midlands region across the three-year period, according to Birmingham Live's reporting on the disclosure.
Violence against the person was the single largest category, accounting for 3,575 offences, or 77% of the total. That category rose every year across the period, peaking at 1,544 cases in 2025.
Sexual offences, including rape and sexual assault, were logged 315 times over the same period. The number of serious sexual offences specifically climbed sharply, from 33 in 2023 to 108 in 2024, then 174 in 2025.
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What "TikTok-Linked" Actually Means Here
The figures are easy to misread without one specific clarification JF Law made explicit.
Although TikTok appeared in every incident log obtained through the request, the company explained this simply meant the app featured somewhere within the wider circumstances of the offence, not that it was the direct cause.
That distinction matters for how the data should be understood: a case might involve TikTok as the platform where a dispute originated, where evidence was found, or where contact between parties happened, without TikTok's design or moderation being what enabled the crime itself.
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The Age Breakdown Behind the Headline Number
The 274 figure for under-13 victims represents roughly 6% of total victims across the dataset, while a larger group sits just above that age bracket.
Teenagers aged 13 to 17 made up 813 victims over the same three years, Birmingham Live reported, meaning under-18s combined account for well over a thousand of the total victims logged.
JF Law described offences against the youngest victims as continuing to climb, calling it a persistent threat to the youngest members of society rather than an isolated spike.
What Else the Data Included
Beyond violence and sexual offences, the disclosure broke out several smaller but still notable categories.
Public order offences accounted for 193 incidents over the three-year span, while possession of weapons featured in 22 cases tied to TikTok-linked reports.
How Neighbouring Forces Compare
West Midlands Police wasn't the only force whose data was requested, and the regional comparison shows a consistent upward pattern rather than an isolated regional anomaly.
West Mercia Police logged 1,013 total incidents, climbing from 259 in 2023 to 460 in 2025. Staffordshire Police recorded 456 incidents, with cases roughly doubling over the period to reach 224 by the end of 2025. Warwickshire Police documented 323 offences, with violence against the person again the dominant category at 207 cases.
Why This Data Is Surfacing Now
The timing of the disclosure isn't incidental to the broader political conversation happening around it.
The figures emerged as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's government considers a wide-ranging social media ban for users under 16, putting concrete regional crime data directly into a live policy debate rather than an abstract one.
Ellie Lamey of JF Law framed the figures as a call to action rather than just a data point: "The trauma inflicted by cyber-stalking, harassment, and online-facilitated abuse has profound, real-world consequences that can completely shatter a family's sense of security." Birmingham Live has contacted West Midlands Police and TikTok for comment.
Key Takeaways
- West Midlands Police logged 4,638 crimes mentioning TikTok between 2023 and 2025.
- 274 victims were under 13; a further 813 were aged 13 to 17.
- Violence against the person made up 77% of all offences, peaking at 1,544 cases in 2025.
- Serious sexual offences rose from 33 in 2023 to 174 in 2025.
- TikTok appearing in a crime log means the app featured in the wider circumstances, not that it directly caused the offence, JF Law clarified.
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Politics & World News Editor
James Mitchell has covered US and UK politics for over a decade, with a focus on elections, foreign policy, and Capitol Hill. He breaks down complex political stories into clear, fast analysis.
