Meta, TikTok and X are hauling the UK's online safety regulator into court over data demands.
Ofcom sent the three companies information notices in February, invoking its powers under the Online Safety Act, the 2023 law meant to make platforms responsible for illegal and harmful content. According to Paul Sandle's report for Reuters, the notices asked for detailed data from the companies. Meta, TikTok and X have now challenged those demands in court, in one of the first legal fights brought under the law since it passed.
The Online Safety Act gives Ofcom broad investigative powers, but broad powers invite test cases. How this one resolves will shape whether the regulator can keep demanding granular internal data from platforms, or whether companies can push back and slow-walk compliance through litigation.
Reuters did not detail exactly what data Ofcom wanted or why the companies think it overreaches, so for now this reads less like a smoking gun and more like three platforms testing the limits of a law still finding its footing.