Overview
- Ofcom has launched a formal investigation into whether Meta carried out “suitable and sufficient” risk assessments under the Online Safety Act before rolling out Instants, the ephemeral-content feature on Instagram.
- Meta says it briefed Ofcom several times before launch, conducted a risk analysis, and built protections into Instants such as blocking screenshots, stopping reshares and forwarding, no public feed, and automatic Teen Account safeguards.
- Ofcom told reporters that the separate High Court litigation by Meta and other platforms over broad information demands has not delayed this investigation and that the regulator will gather and analyse evidence as a priority.
- The regulator stressed that opening an investigation is a procedural step and is not a finding of breach, and any enforcement action would depend on the investigation’s factual conclusions.
- The case is an early operational test of the Online Safety Act that could clarify how far Ofcom can require granular data from tech firms and how strictly platforms must update risk assessments before major product changes.