Kenyan authorities on Thursday ordered TikTok to take down sexual content involving minors following a BBC investigative report exposing the exploitation in the country.

The report, published on Monday, said TikTok was profiting from sexual livestreams performed by Kenyan teenagers as young as 15.

In a statement, the Communications Authority of Kenya said it had launched a formal inquiry and warned that it "will not hesitate to issue sanctions" if any violations of the law by the Chinese video-sharing app are identified.

Kenyan law criminalises online child exploitation, and on Tuesday, a Dutch national was sentenced to 10 years in prison for exposing minors to pornographic content via WhatsApp.

Kenya asks TikTok to 'explain offensive content'

The regulatory body further called on TikTok to "explain how offensive content is able to bypass its content moderation mechanisms."

TikTok is the third most popular social media platform in Kenya after Facebook and WhatsApp.

The app attracts young people with a never-ending scroll of ultra-brief videos and has more than one billion active users worldwide.

TikTok has faced accusations of espionage in the United States and is under investigation by the European Union over claims it was used to sway Romania's presidential election in favour of a far-right candidate.

In several countries, the use of the platform by state institution personnel has been banned.