Meta, X and TikTok lose challenge to UK online safety regulator

The ruling strengthens Britain's ability to demand data from social media companies as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk criticize the country's approach to online regulation and free speech.MANCHESTER, England (CN) — Meta, TikTok and X lost a legal challenge Friday against Britain’s online safety regulator over demands for detailed information about how the platforms moderate harmful content, bolstering the government’s efforts to regulate social media.The High Court in London rejected arguments from the three tech companies that the requests imposed excessive regulatory burdens and exceeded the regulator’s legal powers.The decision marks an early test of Britain’s Online Safety Act, a 2023 law that gives authorities broad powers to require technology companies to protect users, particularly children, from harmful and illegal material.The ruling also comes amid growing tensions between Britain and the Trump administration over online regulation, with U.S. officials and X owner Elon Musk arguing that British rules threaten freedom of expression.Ofcom, Britain’s online safety regulator, issued the notices on Feb. 10, asking the platforms to provide six categories of information about their content moderation practices.These included how much content and how many accounts were subject to moderation, how quickly platforms acted, how many British users were exposed to content later moderated and the number and outcome of user appeals and reports.The requests cover data dating back to Jan. 1, 2024, allowing Ofcom to compare activity before and after the law’s main duties took effect.The regulator said the information would help it assess whether harmful content was becoming less common and whether its interventions were working.The companies argued the requests were excessive.X said complying would cost millions of pounds and require three or four months of specialist work. The company had already spent hundreds of staff hours on the initial stages of the process, the judgment said.But the judges said the companies had failed to provide sufficient evidence showing how much additional work the notices would require beyond the costs of complying with the law more generally.The ruling said the court could not give significant weight to “generalized and allusive objections” without detailed figures showing the specific financial and staffing impact on each business.It also noted that Ofcom had consulted the platforms during the drafting process and made changes to reduce the burden, including extending X’s deadline.The judges accepted the importance of Ofcom’s goal of monitoring online harms and found that the information requests were sufficiently connected to that objective.Ofcom welcomed the ruling, saying: “Gathering information from companies is fundamental to our ability to do our job.”Meta said it was “disappointed with the court’s decision, but we and others across industry pursued this challenge because information-gathering of this scale goes beyond what is necessary or proportionate.”TikTok said it was considering the judgment, while X did not immediately respond.A transatlantic dispute over free speechThe case also comes amid a wider dispute between Washington and London over how far governments should go in regulating online speech.Trump administration officials have repeatedly criticized Britain’s Online Safety Act and the European Union’s Digital Services Act, arguing that the rules restrict freedom of expression and place excessive demands on U.S. technology companies.President Trump raised the issue during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland on July 28, 2025. Starmer clarified that the law was intended to protect children from harmful material, rather than restrict free speech.Musk has been among the law’s most vocal critics.Shortly after the law took effect in July 2025, he wrote on his platform: “Its purpose is suppression of the people.”X subsequently warned that the legislation risked seriously infringing on the public’s right to free expression.Britain’s government and Ofcom have consistently rejected claims that the legislation is designed to censor lawful expression. Ofcom has said platforms are not required to restrict legal content for adult users, while the legislation itself requires companies to consider freedom of expression alongside their safety obligations.Friday’s decision does not resolve Meta’s separate legal challenge over how Ofcom calculates regulatory fees and potential penalties, nor its dispute over the categorization of WhatsApp under the regime.Courthouse News reporter James Francis Whitehead is based in England.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads