Report from Courthouse News
In Brief – The High Court in London has rejected legal challenges by Meta, TikTok and X against demands from Britain’s online safety regulator, Ofcom, for information about how the platforms moderate harmful content. The ruling backs the 2023 Online Safety Act (OSA) regime, which gives authorities broad powers to require technology companies to protect users, particularly children, from harmful and illegal material. In February, Ofcom requested a range of data from the platforms, including the volume of content moderated, response times, and the outcomes of user reports and appeals, dating back to 2024 to allow the regulator to assess whether harmful content was declining and regulatory interventions were effective. The companies argued that compliance would be excessive and costly. However, the judges found the companies had not provided sufficiently detailed evidence of their specific financial and staffing burdens, noted Ofcom had consulted the platforms and adjusted deadlines to reduce costs, and concluded the requests were proportionate to legitimate monitoring objectives. Meta expressed disappointment and maintained the demands exceeded what was necessary and proportionate.
Context – Over the past five years, while the UK has enacted a digital regulatory regime that parallels the EU’s, British leaders have often tried to pitch that the UK was more business friendly. Former PM Starmer said his government offered businesses “stability, pragmatism and the good sense they would expect from democratic British values.” The OSA, described by Ofcom as a “regulatory cousin” of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), gives the UK regulator the broad remit to “make online services safer” by requiring that “companies have effective systems in place to protect users” from a wide range of illegal and harmful content. Trump administration officials and US conservatives have criticized the OSA, and the DSA as well, for restricting freedom of expression online and placing excessive demands on US companies. The latest High Court decision does not resolve Meta’s separate legal challenge over how Ofcom calculates OSA regulatory fees and potential penalties.