The true reason why sudden TikTok pop up message keeps asking users to 'confirm age'

Anyone else had their TikTok scrolling interrupted by an unskippable ad asking to confirm their age?

If so, you're not the only one, as a quick search reveals an abundance of frustrated users complaining about the pop-up on Reddit, X and even TikTok itself.

So what's it all about?

TikTok's 'confirm your age' pop-up explained

For anyone who's not on the video-sharing platform, or lucky enough to not have had their scrolling interrupted, the pop-up seems to appear randomly while users swipe through their 'For You' page.

Featuring a graphic which closely resembles TikTok's official branding, the ad will first ask users to confirm their age in order to join the app's 'Screen Time to Cash Creator' programme – which for a generation of doomscrolllers, endless hours in front of a phone screen is the perfect way to make money.

Once the pop-up appears, users are unable to simply scroll away and instead must click either 'confirm' or 'ask me later'.

For some users, the above choice doesn't actually matter, as they will still be directed to a page which asks them to confirm their birthday regardless of which option they click on.

"I was in the middle of a random unrelated (non-ad) video when this same interface popped up. It appeared to be part of the TikTok app and not something I could close out of within the app. I have not interacted with any ads," penned one user on Reddit, while a second user confirmed they had been 'watching a normal video' when the add came up.

One forum about the pop-up has had more than 100 responses.

"Happened in the middle of me watching a video about Dolly Parton dying," added a third. "So confused."

"This has happened to me 8+ times I have to close the app and re open it as you cannot leave the ad once it pops up," a fourth wrote.

For many Brits the appearance of the pop-up alongside its near-identical branding to TikTok may lead you to believe it's part of the UK government's Online Safety Act.

After all, platforms such as Reddit have been asking users to input their date of birth and proof ever since the Act was brought into law.

And those under 16 will be affected when the social media ban for teenagers comes into force next year.

However, once users input their birthday, they are suddenly transported off of the app and onto the phone's app store, where it prompts you to download a separate app.

For many users, this appears to be the mobile platform 'Playful Rewards'.

Users also complained about the pop up on X, with one user writing: "TikTok keeps on asking me for my age and says they chose me for their program 'screentime to cash'".

Another meanwhile added: "Unfortunately there’s no way to disable it. It's not a true age verification."

When approached by LADbible, TikTok confirmed the advert was not affiliated with the company and that wasn't an official TikTok campaign, despite the clever branding.

A spokesperson for the company went on to add that content and accounts found to be violating the app's rules on deceptive practices and misleading content were being taken down.

TikTok also signposted users to a post on its Safety Centre, which guided users on how to spot and report scams on the app.

However, TikTok did not confirm how the pop up was able to appear on so many users' feeds without the option to skip, as well as why it featured branding which was similar to the platform's official branding.

LADbible has since approached TikTok for further clarification, and reached out to Playful Rewards for comment.