September 16, 2026, 09:44 GMT | Insight
Social media giants
Meta Platforms, X and
TikTok are fighting
Ofcom's efforts to obtain information from them under the UK's Online Safety Act, the regulator has confirmed, adding to a growing litigation burden that it faces. The law gives Ofcom broad powers to require information from regulated services. Ofcom said it would robustly defend its decisions, as it is tasked with policing an industry "unregulated and unaccountable for more than 20 years."
Social media giants Meta Platforms, X and TikTok are fighting UK regulator Ofcom's information-gathering powers, MLex has learned, opening a further litigation front in the implementation of the Online Safety Act.
A spokesperson for the UK's online safety watchdog confirmed to MLex that "Meta, X and TikTok are challenging our efforts to gather information from them."
“Under the Online Safety Act, Parliament has charged us with the job of regulating an industry that has been unregulated and unaccountable for more than 20 years,” the spokesperson said. "On all these fronts, we will robustly defend our reasoning and decisions."
Confirmation of the companies legally challenging its information requests came after Oliver Griffiths, a senior Ofcom official, gave evidence to lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon, where he described the regulator as operating in a “highly litigious environment" (see
here).
Other legal challenges the regulator is facing include a lawsuit by Meta Platforms questioning the online safety regime's fees (see
here) and four companies appealing decisions made in July placing them in the law's most burdensome regulatory category (see
here).
Ofcom has broad powers under the Online Safety Act, or OSA, to require information from services: It can use the information in initial assessments of potential non-compliance and during formal investigations, when providers are under a duty to cooperate with the regulator.
The watchdog can also require reports from a “skilled person,” compel people to attend interviews and use powers of entry, inspection and audit.
Industry voices in the past have argued that Ofcom's information requests can be over-enthusiastic in the amount of information they ask for. The regulator has always stressed that its use of information-gathering powers is a key part of its approach to enforcement, particularly when it comes to obtaining data from large services.
"As an evidence-based regulator, there will be times when we need to formally obtain information held by stakeholders to carry out our duties, including developing evidence-based proposals to regulate effectively and proportionately," the regulator said in a statement in October 2024.
"Under the OSA, we have been given the power to request information for the purposes of exercising, or deciding to exercise, any of our online safety duties and functions."
Meta, X and TikTok have been approached for comment.
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