Irish High Court rejects X's challenge to media regulator's complaints handling

Mixed · 2X, Elon Musk's social media platform, lost a High Court challenge on Thursday 8 October 2026 to the way Ireland's media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, handles user complaints against social media platforms. 1 2 Left · 1Judge Cian Ferriter ruled that the commission is entitled under law to refer information from complaints made under the Digital Services Act to a "supervisory" unit, which can also retain those complaints to identify possible future compliance issues. 1 Left · 1X argued that the commission could not legally pass complaint information to the supervision team if the complaints were already concluded or undetermined, and that such information could not be used for broader, future systemic investigations, so the regulator had acted outside the law. 1

Left · 1X also said it regularly takes "unilateral" removal action, such as in cases of child exploitation, which its own policies oblige it to do, and that the commission was acting in an "extra statutory" manner. It argued that complainants were entitled to an outcome rather than the commission "kicking the can down the road without notification". 1 Left · 1David Fennelly, senior counsel for the regulator, said X was attempting to undermine the watchdog's important role in cases with implications across the EU. 1 Left · 1The judge said the commission has discretion over who investigates complaints and that it could not be said to have improperly disabled itself from exercising that discretion. He found no "improper fettering of discretion" and no "legally impermissible steps" by the commission or its delegates. 1