Ofcom Investigates Meta Over Instagram Instants, Under the Online Safety Act

Ofcom opened an investigation on 6 October into whether Meta failed to comply with its illegal-content and children's risk-assessment duties before launching Instants on Instagram on 13 May. Instants lets users share content that disappears after it is viewed. The duties at issue are in sections 9(4) and 11(4) of the Online Safety Act 2023, which require a fresh risk assessment before a significant change to a service.

If Meta is found to have broken the law, LBC reports, Ofcom can require it to comply and remedy any harm, and Ofcom's page gives the maximum fine as £18m or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater. Ofcom's page is explicit that opening an investigation does not mean it has reached any conclusion about a breach, and it gives no timetable.

Ofcom's director of enforcement George Lusty: 'significant changes to platforms must be risk assessed before they're launched.'

Meta says it conducted a risk analysis and briefed Ofcom about the feature on a number of occasions before launch. It points to built-in protections, including blocking screenshots, reshares and forwarding and having no public feed, says Teen Account protections are on automatically, and said it will co-operate with the investigation, LBC reported.

Why it matters to people who make content

Ofcom is examining whether Meta ran required risk assessments before launching one disappearing-content feature, and it has reached no conclusion. Anything made for a format that vanishes still needs its own archive and rights trail: the platform may not keep it, and a client may need it six months later. Our guide to why social video looks worse than you shot it covers the delivery side.