September 16, 2026, 13:49 GMT | Insight
Meta Platforms was asked for an additional 10,000 pieces of information in an initial request from
Ofcom, the company has told MLex as part of its argument against what it sees as the the UK media regulator's excessive data requests under the country's online safety law. Ofcom says its demands were proportionate and necessary.
Meta Platforms received requests from Ofcom for an additional 10,000 pieces of information in an initial set of questions, the company has told MLex as part of its argument against what it sees as the the UK media regulator's excessive data requests under the country's online safety law.
Ofcom said its requests to the company were "proportionate and necessary" and within its legal powers.
Meta is one of three services challenging Ofcom's information gathering powers, alongside
TikTok and X (see
here). MLex understands all three challenges are against requests for information issued under Ofcom's monitoring and evaluation program, and they all raise similar concerns around length and scope.
"We’re committed to working constructively with Ofcom but, like others, we believe the scale of some of their information requests go far beyond what is permitted under the Online Safety Act, or is necessary and proportionate," a Meta spokesperson said.
The company has argued the law contains a number of reporting requirements and that Meta was already required to provide comprehensive transparency reports when certain duties of the act kicked in.
Under the law, services listed in the regulator's highest category, which imposes additional obligations, will eventually have to publish annual transparency reports containing online safety-related information, including data on the algorithms they use and their effect on users’ experience.
"The additional information requests demand more information than Meta has been asked to provide by any other regulator in the world -- around 10,000 pieces of extra information in the first set of requests alone," the spokesperson said.
An Ofcom official told MLex that the regulator firmly believes that its requests to Meta are "proportionate, necessary and within the scope of our powers given to us by Parliament under the Online Safety Act."
— Categorization —
Meta is also challenging the Online Safety Act's fees regime (see
here) and the regulator's categorization of
Instagram and WhatsApp as Category 1 services. Gaming giant
Roblox and question-and-answer forum
Quora are also fighting against the designation (see
here).
Category 1 is the highest tier in Ofcom's register and carries the Online Safety Act's broadest additional requirements. These cover user empowerment, identity verification, terms of service, complaints, and certain types of journalistic and political content. The regulator is consulting on what some of the extra requirements for categorized services will entail in practice (see
here).
This classification applies to all user-to-user services with more than 34 million monthly UK users and a content recommender system, or to services with more than 7 million monthly UK users that have a recommender system and a function allowing users to forward or share user-generated content.
Meta has argued that such thresholds were not “designed” for capturing platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram.
"The Category 1 duties are designed for services that distribute content to broad numbers of unconnected users through recommender systems or public feeds, not private one-to-one and small-group messaging. We are appealing," a spokesperson said.
Services have one month from receiving an Ofcom categorization decision to appeal to the country's
Upper Tribunal. The relevant additional duties are “temporarily suspended until the appeal is resolved,” the regulator has said.
After Ofcom published its register of categorized services in July (see
here), industry insiders argued that the regulator chose to apply the thresholds without any consideration of whether the functionalities that brought services into scope were central to these platforms (see
here).
TikTok, X, Quora and Roblox have been approached for a comment.
Please email editors@mlex.com to contact the editorial staff regarding this story, or to submit the names of lawyers and advisers.
Tags
Sections:
Data Privacy & Security, Technology
Industries:
Computing & Information Technology, Educational Services, Entertainment & Arts, Marketing & Advertising, Media & Telecommunications, Computer Networks, Social Media, Digital Economy
Geographies:
United Kingdom, Europe, Northern Europe
Topics:
Content Moderation