WIN: High Court greenlights our case to stop TalkTV’s misinformation

The judge granted permission on three of our four grounds of challenge. Our case will argue that TalkTV failed to protect viewers from “harmful and/or offensive material” by spewing transphobic hate. Second, that it ignored its duty to ensure that “views and facts” are not “misrepresented” by making false claims about the Supreme Court ruling. And finally, that TalkTV allowed its presenters to repeat these harmful views again and again, undermining the requirement of “due impartiality”.

The case comes after our investigation found 11 TalkTV programmes where hosts and guests repeatedly attacked the trans community. Over 21,000 people complained, but Ofcom launched an investigation into just one broadcast, giving the rest the all clear.

This isn’t the first time we’ve held rightwing media to account. When GB News aired a segment on Headliners where a presenter repeated a dangerous lie linking LGBTQ+ people to paedophilia, we fought back. Ofcom eventually found the channel had broken the broadcasting code and the show was cancelled.

With the far right on the rise, it’s never been more important for Ofcom to keep misinformation and hate off our airwaves. When toxic rhetoric is broadcast unchallenged into living rooms across the country, it poisons public debate and puts vulnerable communities in danger. Media regulators exist to safeguard standards, not to look the other way while rightwing outlets monetise hostility and division.

We won’t allow the regulator to let TalkTV serve as a megaphone for dangerous, far-right rhetoric. Ofcom, we’ll see you back in court.