Meta challenges UK regulator over online safety rules

Meta has launched a new legal challenge against the UK’s media regulator Ofcom over the implementation of the Online Safety Act.

According to a report by The Guardian on Sunday, lawyers for the company have appealed against the decision to place WhatsApp and Instagram in a category subject to additional duties, including greater transparency, increased user controls and measures to tackle fraudulent advertising and illegal content.

The challenge is the latest in a series of legal actions brought by technology companies against Ofcom.

In May, Meta also challenged Ofcom’s methodology for calculating fees, arguing that charges should not be based on a company’s global revenue.

Under the Online Safety Act, companies can face fines of up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, or £18 million ($24 million), whichever is higher.

TikTok and X are also taking legal action over the amount of information they are required to provide to Ofcom.

Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom’s group director for online safety, told a House of Lords committee that the regulator was “operating in a highly litigious environment.”

He said Ofcom was seeking to implement the legislation effectively but warned that it could face significant legal consequences if it took “unnecessary risks.”

Meta said its challenges were “not challenges to the law itself, but how Ofcom has interpreted it.”

The company said such challenges were a normal part of establishing a new regulatory regime and would help ensure the law was applied “proportionately, accurately and consistently.”

The government said it will continue introducing legislation to regulate the internet as technology develops.