Meta has filed a new legal challenge against Ofcom, appealing the UK regulator's decision to place WhatsApp and Instagram in a category that carries extra transparency and content-monitoring duties. The move adds to a growing list of court actions by tech platforms against the Online Safety Act's enforcement, following Meta's earlier challenge over how Ofcom calculates its fees.
Meta has served legal notice appealing Ofcom's decision to place WhatsApp and Instagram in a category subject to additional duties, including greater transparency, more user controls, anti-fraud advertising measures and expanded illegal-content recording. The filing extends a pattern of social media companies turning to the courts as Ofcom works to enforce the Online Safety Act.
This is Meta's second challenge this year. In May, the company argued in a London legal challenge that Ofcom's fee methodology was flawed because it is based on a company's global revenue rather than its UK activity. Ofcom funds its online-safety operating costs from that same revenue-based charge, and breaches of the Online Safety Act can draw fines of up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue or £18m, whichever is higher.
Meta is not alone. TikTok and X are separately contesting how much information they must hand over so Ofcom can monitor their services. A senior Ofcom director told a committee in the House of Lords on Tuesday that the regulator was, according to the Guardian: "operating in a highly litigious environment", citing two actions from Meta and judicial reviews from other services challenging its data collection.
A Meta spokesperson said the company, like TikTok, Roblox, X and Quora, is challenging specific aspects of how Ofcom has implemented the law rather than the legislation itself, describing it as a normal part of settling a new regulatory regime. Ofcom's Oliver Griffiths told peers the regulator still intends to drive change, but warned that moving too aggressively risks a damaging legal response from deep-pocketed firms.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said last week that the government expects to keep updating internet legislation as the pace of technological change outstrips existing rules.
Source: The Guardian
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