Meta, TikTok and X lose UK court fight over Ofcom’s content moderation data demands (Representational image; Reuters)
On October 30, a Divisional Court at London’s High Court dismissed their challenge to information notices Ofcom issued earlier this year, ruling the demands lawful and refusing to quash them. This was the first judicial review to test Ofcom’s information powers under the 2023 Act, which sets tougher rules for social media platforms to protect children from harmful and illegal content. Meta, TikTok and X have lost their legal fight against UK regulator Ofcom over how much data they must hand over under the Online Safety Act.
Lord Justice Singh and Mrs Justice Collins Rice threw out four of the five grounds as unarguable. The fifth, on proportionality, was allowed to proceed and then rejected too.
The notices, sent in February under section 100 of the Act, sought detailed content moderation metrics. The ruling strengthens Ofcom’s hand as it enforces a regime backed by fines of up to 10% of global turnover.
The platforms called the demands unprecedented and said the data would cost millions of pounds to collect. TikTok said its notice required vast quantitative data spanning three years. X said it would have to run complex analysis on huge datasets it has no use for in its own business, a job that could take months. The transparency regime is about publishing information, they said, while these notices serve Ofcom’s own regulatory work. Their claim of an “extraordinary” burden had also never been put before Ofcom when it issued the notices.
These included how many posts were removed or had their visibility restricted, and how many users were exposed to harmful content. WhatsApp received one too. They also argued that Ofcom had sidestepped the Act’s separate transparency regime and failed to carry out an impact assessment. TikTok alone claimed the decision had been made in advance. The judges disagreed on every count. The law’s wording is also broad enough that Ofcom didn’t need a specific task in mind before asking. On proportionality, the court found the companies’ evidence too thin to tip the balance. Meta still has a separate challenge pending over how Ofcom calculates fees and potential fines. Until that lands, the three platforms have to start pulling together the numbers Ofcom asked for. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.