LONDON, UK — Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has launched a new legal challenge against Ofcom over how the UK’s Online Safety Act is being implemented.
Lawyers representing Meta served notice of an appeal during the week, challenging Ofcom’s decision to place WhatsApp and Instagram in a category that carries additional regulatory obligations.
The latest action is part of a wider series of legal disputes involving technology companies and Ofcom as Britain implements its landmark online safety legislation.
Meta challenges additional duties
The regulatory category covering WhatsApp and Instagram subjects the platforms to additional responsibilities under the Online Safety Act.
These include greater transparency requirements, enhanced user controls, measures aimed at protecting users from fraudulent advertising and increased recording and reporting of illegal content.
Meta says it is challenging specific aspects of Ofcom’s implementation rather than seeking to overturn the Online Safety Act itself.
“Like many others in the industry, including TikTok, Roblox, X and Quora, we are challenging specific aspects of implementation,” a Meta spokesperson said.
“These are not challenges to the law itself, but how Ofcom has interpreted it,” the spokesperson added.
Meta already challenging Ofcom fees
The latest legal action follows another challenge filed by Meta in May, concerning the way Ofcom calculates the fees it charges companies regulated under the Online Safety Act.
Meta argues that Ofcom’s methodology is flawed, particularly its reliance on a company’s global revenue when determining the charges.
Under the Online Safety Act, companies can face fines of up to 10pc of qualifying worldwide revenue or £18 million, whichever is higher, for serious breaches of their obligations.
Ofcom is also funding its online safety regulatory work through charges imposed on companies covered by the regime.
Ofcom faces multiple legal challenges
Meta is not the only major technology company challenging Ofcom.
TikTok and X are among companies involved in legal disputes over the amount of information they are required to provide to the regulator as it monitors compliance with the Online Safety Act.
Ofcom’s online safety division has described the regulator as operating in an increasingly litigious environment.
Speaking to a House of Lords committee on Tuesday, Ofcom Group Director for Online Safety Oliver Griffiths said the regulator was facing legal challenges from Meta and other services over efforts to obtain information.
“We have all come to work to make this happen, but, if we run unnecessary risks, we are going to get absolutely clobbered legally by deep-pocketed individuals and firms,” Griffiths told peers.
Ofcom says it is seeking to enforce the law while managing the legal risks associated with its regulatory decisions.
Tech companies face tighter UK regulation
The disputes come as the UK government increases regulatory oversight of social media platforms, search engines and other online services.
The Online Safety Act gives Ofcom powers to impose duties on technology companies to address illegal content and protect users, including children, from specified online harms.
The regulator has been progressively introducing and enforcing the requirements, prompting technology companies to challenge particular decisions and interpretations in court.
Meta maintains that such legal challenges are part of the normal process of establishing how a new regulatory framework should operate.
The company said the court proceedings would help settle questions about “process, scope and implementation” and ensure the rules are applied proportionately and consistently.
UK government signals more internet regulation
The legal battles come as the British government signals that further regulation of the technology sector could follow.
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy said last week that the government would continue introducing legislation to regulate the internet.
She argued that technological change was occurring so rapidly that legislation would need to be updated regularly.
“Government is going to be far quicker, far more interventionist,” Nandy said on the Sky News Electoral Dysfunction podcast.
