Three major social media platforms are contesting the scale of information Ofcom wants them to provide under the Online Safety Act, bringing a dispute over regulatory data collection into a live court hearing this week. The case concerns how much detail the regulator can require from services as it assesses whether the new safety regime is working in practice.
What the notices seek
The information notices were issued in February and seek detailed measures about content moderation. The requested material includes counts of posts removed or made less visible, alongside data on how many users encountered harmful content. These figures could help show what a service detects, how it responds, and how widely harmful material continues to reach users.
Meta, TikTok and X are challenging the requests. Their objections, set out in court filings, concern the extent of the data collection and the burden of assembling it. Meta argues that the requested information spans seven of its services and is not tied to a clearly defined regulatory purpose. TikTok argues that the regulator has bypassed a separate monitoring arrangement that it says contains specific safeguards. Evidence filed for X describes the request as exceptionally burdensome compared with requests it has received from other regulators.
Ofcom’s case for the data
Ofcom’s position is that the information is genuinely needed to evaluate the operation of the new regime. The regulator says it narrowed the scope of the material it would require before putting the notices into effect. The dispute is therefore not simply about whether the companies should be regulated: it tests what evidence Ofcom may demand in order to measure platforms’ compliance and the real-world performance of its rules.
The Online Safety Act 2023 gives Ofcom powers to require information for the purpose of carrying out, or deciding whether to carry out, its online-safety functions. The regulator’s published guidance explains that services can have legal duties to respond when information-gathering powers are used. The companies’ challenge places the limits and application of those powers under scrutiny in this particular set of notices.
A significant test for the new regime
The law requires services to take steps to address illegal content and protect children from harmful material. Ofcom’s broader enforcement framework includes substantial penalties for serious breaches, potentially reaching 10 per cent of a company’s qualifying worldwide revenue or £18 million, whichever is higher. But enforcing obligations depends in part on what the regulator can learn about how platforms’ systems operate and what happens to content users encounter.
The platforms’ position is that collecting granular information across services imposes an exceptional workload and may not be sufficiently connected to a specific regulatory purpose. TikTok’s objection also raises a question about how Ofcom’s data demands interact with an alternative monitoring system. Those are arguments by the companies, not findings by the court. Ofcom, in turn, says it needs the information to evaluate the regime and has already reduced what it is asking for.
The hearing is due to conclude on Wednesday, 7 October. No decision has been announced. The outcome could clarify how the statutory information powers apply to large online services, but it will not by itself determine whether the platforms have breached their wider safety duties. A separate challenge by Meta over the calculation of regulatory fees and penalties is expected to be heard the following week, making the regulator’s legal authority a continuing point of dispute as the regime is implemented.
