Three days after Maldita.es reported 50 videos to TikTok, 40% of the accounts that had posted the material were still active. The Spanish fact-checking organisation says the platform had removed only five videos. In its test of TikTok’s reporting system, Maldita.es said the platform removed five videos, 10% of the sample, and blocked 13 in Spain, or 26%.
That response followed an investigation that found 1,183 videos and images of explicit child sexual abuse on TikTok during a 35-day collection period from 11 September to 15 October 2026. The material had accumulated about 48 million views and had been posted by more than 200 profiles. Of 231 accounts Maldita.es analysed, 136, or 59%, were still active on 15 October, despite TikTok’s stated policy of permanently banning accounts that publish child sexual abuse material. The organisation said the content was publicly accessible through TikTok’s search and recommendation systems, rather than confined to the dark web.
Maldita.es counted more than 26,000 profiles of potential offenders commenting on or sharing the material. Separately, its investigation identified more than 7,700 accounts using public comments to request or exchange child sexual abuse material; comments from those accounts also advertised it or included boasts about possessing it. Those accounts were not necessarily all publishers of the videos counted in the investigation. It also found a community with about 2,000 followers around a US man described as a baby rapist and reported as being in prison.
The findings carry added weight because TikTok had acknowledged a problem with paedophilia in an internal report in 2022, according to Maldita.es. EL PAÍS tested some of the hashtags and keywords used by these communities and reported that finding further material was extremely easy. The investigation described how public content and recommendation pathways made the material discoverable through ordinary activity on the platform.
Maldita.es assessed TikTok’s response to reports between 16 October and 6 November, after its initial collection period. On 9 November, the organisation submitted evidence, including screenshots, to Spain’s Prosecutor’s Office for Cyber Crimes. It alleged that TikTok breached European rules requiring platforms to address systemic risks and protect children, and to act promptly against illegal content. The complaint is an allegation, not a judicial finding.
The referral came three days after the European Commission’s 6 November preliminary finding that TikTok’s “For You” recommendation feed breached the Digital Services Act over risks linked to “rabbit holes”, repeated recommendations that can intensify exposure to similar material. The Commission’s action concerned recommender-system risks and was separate from Maldita.es’s complaint about child sexual abuse material.
