Meta has launched a fresh legal challenge against Britain’s media regulator in the latest of a slew of actions by social media companies who are accused of using the courts to slow down implementation of the Online Safety Act. Lawyers for the parent company of Facebook served notice during the week in an appeal against placing WhatsApp and Instagram, which are also owned by Meta, in a category that subjects them to additional duties. Those additional responsibilities include greater transparency, more user controls, measures to protect users from fraudulent advertising and increased recording of illegal content.
The move comes against the backdrop of hostility on the part of US tech corporations, and Donald Trump’s White House, over the fees and fines regime Ofcom is enforcing under landmark digital safety legislation. Meta launched a legal challenge in London in May, claiming that Ofcom’s methodology for calculating the charges was flawed and should not be based on a company’s global revenue. Breaches of the Online Safety Act can be punished by fines of up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue (QWR) or £18m – whichever is higher.
Ofcom is funding the operating costs of carrying out its online safety work by drawing on a proportion of that revenue. Other legal action is being taken by TikTok and X over how much information the companies need to give Ofcom to carry out its job of monitoring their services. A senior director at the regulator told a committee in the House of Lords on Tuesday that Ofcom was “operating in a highly litigious environment”, including facing two actions by Meta and others from “a raft of services” bringing judicial reviews against the body for trying to collect data.
This is a normal feature of any new regulatory regime being bedded in and ensures questions of process, scope and implementation get settled so the law is applied proportionately, accurately and consistently.” Lisa Nandy, the secretary for digital, culture, media and sport, vowed last week to keep introducing legislation to govern the internet.
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