Meta, TikTok and X Challenge Ofcom Data Demands

LONDON: (News Desk) – Meta, TikTok and X are challenging British regulator Ofcom over the volume and detail of information it is demanding under the country’s new online safety regime.

The legal challenge is among the first disputes involving the Online Safety Act 2023, which introduced stricter obligations for platforms including TikTok, X and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram to protect users, particularly children, from harmful and illegal content.

Ofcom has been gradually implementing the regulatory framework, with companies facing fines of up to 10 per cent of their global turnover for the most serious breaches.

In February, the regulator issued information notices requiring detailed content moderation data from the technology companies. The requests included figures on posts removed or subjected to restricted visibility, as well as the number of users exposed to harmful content.

Meta, TikTok and X have argued that the notices impose an unprecedented regulatory burden.

In a witness statement submitted by X, the company described the request as the most burdensome information demand it had received from any regulator in any jurisdiction.

Meta told the court that Ofcom was seeking “wide-ranging and granular information” about seven of its services without clearly identifying a regulatory purpose for the requested data.

TikTok, meanwhile, argued that Ofcom had bypassed an alternative monitoring framework that already contained specific safeguards.

Ofcom has defended its requests, saying the information is necessary to assess whether the new online safety regime is achieving its intended objectives. The regulator also said it had reduced the scope of the information requested before implementation.

An Ofcom spokesperson said Parliament had tasked the regulator with overseeing an industry that had remained largely unregulated and unaccountable for more than two decades.

The current hearing is scheduled to conclude on Wednesday. A separate legal challenge by Meta concerning the calculation of regulatory fees and penalties is expected to be heard next week.