Social media: Ofcom are cosying up to big tech

Ofcom’s veil of secrecy around its dealings with big tech is on the line, after Good Law Project have teamed up with Clean Up the Internet to challenge the media regulator.

When the government passed the Online Safety Act in 2023, putting new duties on social media companies to look after their users, they promised it would make the UK the “safest place in the world to be online”. But Ofcom have failed to stand up for people using social media and have sided with big tech, watering down crucial provisions in their code of practice about taking down illegal content quickly.

In January 2025, the campaign group Clean Up the Internet asked Ofcom why they had made this change, the evidence behind it, and the meetings held with tech companies.

The regulator flatly refused to give any details about meetings with Meta and TikTok and they refused to confirm or deny they had met with Google and X.

Ofcom said they were basing these refusals on a highly aggressive interpretation of the Communications Act 2003. They argue they can withhold any information gathered “in exercise of a power” in the Online Safety Act. But this would mean virtually all information about their dealings with these massive corporations is kept entirely in the dark.

After a series of challenges, a regulatory tribunal handed down a decision in March, upholding Ofcom’s extreme position. If that ruling is allowed to stand, Ofcom would be able to keep working behind closed doors. So we’ve filed an appeal to the tribunal’s decision and won the right for Clean Up the Internet to take this fight to the next level.

For Good Law Project’s tech and data lead, Duncan McCann, the current framework allows Ofcom to “treat the public, safety campaigners and even parliament with contempt”.

“MPs never intended to let big tech shape the rules governing our online lives in the dark,” McCann said. “We have a fundamental right to know whether the communications watchdog is putting safety first or curling up in the lap of Silicon Valley.”

Regulators should be looking after citizens, not company profits. This fight is far from over, but we won’t back down.