UK Regulator Ofcom Opens Investigation Into Meta's Instagram "Instants" Feature Over Online Safety Concerns

Britain's communications regulator has launched a formal investigation into whether Meta failed to meet its legal obligations under the UK's online safety regime when it rolled out a new disappearing-photo feature on Instagram earlier this year.

Ofcom confirmed it is examining the launch of "Instants," a tool that lets users capture and send an ephemeral image to a select group of close friends. The feature was introduced on the photo-sharing platform in May, with Meta marketing it as a fresh way for people to share photos in the moment.

The regulator's central concern is that the social media giant may not have carried out adequate risk assessments before making the feature available to users. Under the Online Safety Act (OSA), large platforms are legally required to assess how their services could be exploited to spread illegal material or expose children to harmful content — and to do so before significant changes go live.

Ofcom said its probe will specifically consider whether Meta breached its duties by failing to conduct "a suitable and sufficient illegal content risk assessment and children's risk assessment before the launch of Instants."

The OSA, a sweeping piece of legislation that has reshaped how tech companies operate in the UK, obliges platforms to carry out and regularly update risk assessments. Those assessments underpin a broader set of duties, including taking action against illegal content and demonstrating how children who are permitted to use a service are protected from material deemed harmful to them.

The categories of concern are wide-ranging. They include pornography as well as content that promotes self-harm or suicide, which the legislation classes as "priority primary content." The rules also cover abusive, hateful and bullying material.

George Lusty, Ofcom's enforcement director, framed the investigation as a straightforward question of compliance. He said the UK's online safety laws are unambiguous in requiring that significant changes to platforms be risk assessed before launch, describing it as a vital step firms must take to safeguard users.

"You wouldn't launch a new car without testing it properly, and it's the same for online services," Lusty said, drawing a comparison designed to underline how routine he believes pre-launch safety checks should be.

He added that safety by design must be built in rather than bolted on, and that the investigation demonstrates the regulator will act when it has concerns that providers are falling short of their obligations.

Meta pushed back on the suggestion that it had skipped safety work. A company spokesperson said the firm takes its regulatory obligations under the Online Safety Act seriously and that it had conducted a risk analysis and briefed Ofcom about the feature on several occasions before releasing it. The spokesperson added that Meta will cooperate fully with the investigation.

Instants allows images to be viewed by people a user has designated as "close friends," or by accounts in a mutual follow relationship. The format — a picture that vanishes once seen — echoes features long offered by competitors such as Snapchat and WhatsApp, which have become staples of casual, low-pressure communication online.

Meta has emphasised that Instants ships with a range of built-in protections, particularly for younger users on Teen Accounts. According to the company, these safeguards include measures to prevent screenshots, reshares or forwarding of Instants.

However, disappearing messages and images have repeatedly drawn scrutiny from child safety advocates and researchers, who argue the ephemeral nature of such content can complicate moderation and make it harder for parents or authorities to detect abuse or harmful interactions. The BBC has previously reported on concerns that vanishing content poses particular risks for child and teenage users of certain apps.

The investigation lands amid a broader confrontation between Ofcom and some of the world's largest social media companies over how the OSA is enforced. Meta, TikTok and X are simultaneously challenging the regulator's enforcement approach through judicial review proceedings.

All three companies appeared in court this week, arguing they should not be required to hand over as much information as Ofcom has demanded through its formal requests. The dispute centres on the scope of the data the regulator can compel platforms to produce as part of its oversight.

Meta has raised separate objections. The company has argued that Ofcom should not be able to impose fines for breaches calculated on the basis of its global annual revenue — a stance that, if successful, could significantly blunt the regulator's financial leverage. It has also contended that its messaging and image-sharing apps should not face additional requirements under the OSA, such as obligations to tackle paid-for fraud advertisements.

The outcome of the Instants investigation could prove consequential well beyond a single feature. It tests how rigorously Ofcom will interpret the OSA's requirement that platforms assess risk before — not after — shipping new products, a principle regulators have described as central to preventing harm at scale rather than reacting to it once damage is done.

For Meta, the case adds another front to an already crowded regulatory battlefield in the UK, where the company faces scrutiny over data handling, advertising practices and child safety simultaneously. For Ofcom, it offers an early opportunity to show that its enforcement powers carry real weight against a platform used by billions.

The regulator has not indicated a timeline for concluding its investigation, and no findings have been reached. If Ofcom determines that Meta breached its duties, the company could face the enforcement measures available under the OSA. Meta, for its part, maintains that it followed the correct process and says it will engage constructively with the regulator as the inquiry proceeds.