Britain’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has opened its first formal investigation into Meta under the Online Safety Act, examining whether the company carried out adequate safety assessments before launching Instagram’s disappearing-content feature, Instants.
Ofcom said on Tuesday that it is investigating whether Meta conducted suitable and sufficient risk assessments covering illegal content and potential risks to children before introducing Instants in May.
The investigation places fresh scrutiny on how technology companies assess safety risks when making significant changes to established online platforms.
Ofcom stressed that the investigation does not mean it has concluded that Meta breached the law. Instead, the regulator is seeking to establish whether the company fulfilled its legal obligations before launching the feature.
Instagram Instants Puts Meta’s Safety Checks Under Review
Instants allows Instagram users to capture and share photos and videos through the app, with the content disappearing after it has been viewed.
Meta designed the feature for private sharing, with restrictions intended to prevent users from capturing or distributing content through screenshots, reshares or forwarding. The feature also includes protections linked to Instagram’s Teen Accounts, which Meta says are automatically applied to younger users.
Those safeguards are now central to a wider question for Ofcom: whether Meta properly assessed the potential risks before releasing Instants, rather than introducing protections only after the feature had been developed.
Under the Online Safety Act, platforms must assess risks associated with illegal content. Services likely to be accessed by children must also assess risks to users under 18.
Companies are required to conduct further assessments when they make significant changes to the design or operation of their services.
The timing and adequacy of Meta’s assessments will therefore be a key focus of Ofcom’s investigation.
Ofcom Pushes for Safety by Design
George Lusty, Ofcom’s director of enforcement, said the law requires companies to assess major changes to their platforms before launch.
His comments underline a central principle of Britain’s online safety regime: companies should identify and address potential harms during the design and development of new products, rather than treating safety as an issue to be dealt with after a feature reaches millions of users.
The principle is particularly relevant to platforms such as Instagram, where changes to how users communicate can affect how content spreads and how effectively potentially harmful material can be identified, monitored or reported.
“You wouldn’t launch a new car without testing it properly,” Lusty said. “Safety by design” should be built into online services rather than added later, he said.
Ofcom’s investigation will therefore examine Meta’s processes surrounding the launch of Instants as well as the safety features incorporated into the product itself.
Meta Says It Assessed Instants Risks Before Launch
Meta disputes any suggestion that it failed to meet its regulatory responsibilities.
The company said it carried out a risk analysis and briefed Ofcom about Instants on several occasions before the feature was launched. It also highlighted safeguards incorporated into the product, including restrictions on screenshots, reshares and forwarding.
“We will of course co-operate with Ofcom during this investigation,” a Meta spokesperson said.
The investigation could ultimately turn on more than whether safeguards were built into Instants. Ofcom is specifically examining whether Meta’s risk assessments met the requirements of the Online Safety Act.
The outcome could have wider implications for technology companies making significant changes to established platforms. Companies may introduce safety measures and still face regulatory scrutiny if Ofcom determines that their assessment of the underlying risks was inadequate.
Disappearing Content Presents New Online Safety Challenges
The design of Instants also raises broader questions about the balance between privacy and platform oversight.
Ephemeral messaging has become popular partly because users know that the content they share is designed to disappear. This can make communication feel more private and informal than posting material to a permanent social media feed.
However, disappearing content can also create different challenges for moderation, accountability and the detection of harmful material.
Ofcom’s investigation into Instants could therefore provide an important test of how the Online Safety Act applies to new features that change the way content is created, shared and removed on major social media platforms.
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