Meta challenges Ofcom over WhatsApp and Instagram safety duties
Meta is contesting Ofcom’s categorisation of its platforms and the regulatory obligations that follow, while other technology companies challenge aspects of the law’s implementation.
Meta has served notice of an appeal against Ofcom’s categorisation of WhatsApp and Instagram under the UK Online Safety Act, opening a new dispute over how the country’s digital safety regime is being applied.
The categorisation brings additional duties for the services, including greater transparency, increased user controls, protections against fraudulent advertising and more extensive recording of illegal content.
Meta said its challenge concerns Ofcom’s interpretation and implementation of the Act, rather than the legislation itself. The company said such disputes are a normal part of establishing the process, scope and application of a new regulatory regime.
The action follows a separate challenge launched by Meta in May against Ofcom’s methodology for calculating fees. Meta has argued that the charges should not be based on a company’s global revenue.
Ofcom’s online safety work is funded through a proportion of qualifying worldwide revenue. Breaches of the Act can attract fines of up to 10 per cent of qualifying worldwide revenue or £18m, whichever is higher.
The dispute comes as TikTok and X challenge other aspects of Ofcom’s implementation, including the information companies must provide so the regulator can monitor their services. Ofcom online safety director Oliver Griffiths told a House of Lords committee that the regulator was operating in a “highly litigious environment”.
The legal challenges come alongside the government’s stated intention to update internet regulation regularly as technology changes. The outcome of Meta’s appeal, and its effect on implementation, remain uncertain.
