Meta is suing Ofcom, claiming the Online Safety Act fines are disproportionate.
Meta is bringing a High Court challenge against the UK’s media regulator, Ofcom, in relation to penalty fees imposed under the Online Safety Act.
The lawsuit alleges the fines imposed by Ofcom are disproportionate, and that calculating the appropriate fee should be more specific to UK earnings.
As it stands, Online Safety Act breaches can result in a fine of up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue (QWR), or £18m – whichever is greater. Meta is arguing the potential fines should instead be calculated based on the earnings within the regulated country.
“We and others in the tech industry believe its decisions on the methodology to calculate fees and potential fines are disproportionate,” said a Meta spokesperson.
“We believe fees and penalties should be based on the services being regulated in the countries they’re being regulated in. This would still allow Ofcom to impose the largest fines in UK corporate history.”
The EU uses a similar method to impose fines under its landmark legislation the Digital Markets Act.
A hearing is scheduled for 13-14 October 2026. Ofcom has confirmed it will “robustly defend our reasoning and decisions”.
Meta’s council have argued in court documents that Ofcom’s approach is “troubling” and would lead to “companies such as Meta bearing the vast majority of Ofcom’s costs, despite the act making clear that it is concerned with a wide range of internet services offered in the UK”.
Meta’s worldwide revenue for 2025 sat at almost $201bn, meaning Ofcom could collect $21bn in fines (roughly £15bn).
This is not the first time Meta has come under fire recently. The social media giant has been called out for allowing scam ads and illegal gambling ads on its platform, with the Dutch regulator the latest to issue a warning.
The tech platform has been investigated recently, which resulted in researchers found that user safety was risked to fuel algorithms.
The Instagram owner is not the only tech platform to face challenges from the regulator. Earlier in 2026, social media site 4chan was fined £450,000 for failing to protect children from seeing inappropriate content, and for failing to comply with the UK’s new online age check requirements.
A total of 16 fines have been imposed under the Online Safety Act so far – equalling nearly £4mn, although not all have been collected.
