Ofcom opens investigation into Meta's Instagram Instants

Communications regulator Ofcom has opened an investigation into Meta over potential non-compliance with the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA), concerning whether the technology company adequately assessed the risks before launching Instagram Instants.

Introduced in May, Meta's Instants feature allows shared content to disappear after being viewed. Under the OSA, online platforms must assess and mitigate the risk of UK users encountering illegal content. Furthermore, services accessible to children must evaluate and mitigate exposure risks to harmful material for under-18s, and platforms must update assessments before deploying significant design or operational changes.

George Lusty, Director of Enforcement at Ofcom, said statutory obligations require safety by design to be built in from the start rather than added later. Comparing digital platform rollouts to vehicle safety testing, Lusty confirmed the regulator will intervene whenever providers fail to conduct suitable and sufficient risk evaluations before introducing new features.

Additional commentary in The Guardian. 

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