After its US firefight, Meta now faces regulatory glare in the United Kingdom, with the European country’s communications regulator opening its first formal investigation into the social media conglomerate under the “Online Safety Act,” questioning whether it properly assessed risks posed by its Instagram Instants feature before launching it in May.
Instants allows content shared by users on Instagram to disappear after being viewed.
Ofcom’s investigation would establish whether Meta carried out a “suitable and sufficient” assessment of the risks of illegal content on the feature and any risks posed to children before its launch.
George Lusty, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said, “Our online safety laws are clear—significant changes to platforms must be risk assessed before they’re launched.”
Stating that safety by design had to be built in and not bolted on, Lusty said, in his warning to Meta, “Today’s investigation shows we’ll take action where we have concerns that providers are failing to comply.”
Meta, responding to the news, said it takes its regulatory obligations under the Online Safety Act seriously.
“We conducted a risk analysis and briefed Ofcom about this feature on several occasions before launching it,” a spokesperson said.
“Instants has in-built protections, including blocking screenshots, reshares and forwarding, no public feed, and Teen Account protections on auto. We will, of course, co-operate with Ofcom during this investigation,” the person added further.
Under the Online Safety Act, passed in October 2023, Ofcom conducted its first investigation in 2025 by probing an online suicide discussion forum, followed by similar actions into pornography sites, file-sharing services used to distribute child sexual abuse material, and platforms such as 4chan.
The United Kingdom’s online safety regime sets obligations for social media platforms, search engines, and adult content providers to tackle illegal content and to protect children’s safety.
Under the rules, companies, including the ones operating in the social media domain, need to conduct risk assessments and implement safety measures like age verification.
If a company fails to comply, Ofcom can impose fines of up to 18 million pounds or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.
Meta, however, has launched legal challenges against Ofcom over its implementation of the act.
The Mark Zuckerberg-led tech giant has also contested the scale and scope of information it has to provide to the regulator and the level of fees it has to pay in the form of penalties.