Britain's Ofcom has opened a formal investigation into Meta's Instagram Instants feature, examining whether the company conducted a sufficient risk assessment before its May launch. The regulator is assessing risks around illegal content and children's safety. Meta says Instants has safeguards, including blocked screenshots, reshares and forwarding, and says it briefed Ofcom before its launch.

Britain's communications regulator Ofcom has begun a formal investigation into Meta over Instagram's Instants feature. The regulator wants to know whether Meta carried out a 'suitable and sufficient' risk assessment before launching Instants in May. The feature lets users share content that disappears once it has been viewed. Ofcom is looking at two areas: the risk of illegal content being shared through it, and its potential impact on children.

Ofcom's position

George Lusty, Ofcom's director of enforcement, told Reuters that the Online Safety Act requires platforms to assess the risks of significant changes before launch. Safety should be built into a platform's design from the outset, he said, not added afterwards. The investigation shows Ofcom will act where it suspects providers are not complying, he added.

Meta's response