Investigation into Meta’s compliance with illegal content risk assessment duties

Background 

Under section 9 of the Online Safety Act 2023 (‘the Act’), providers of regulated user-to-user services must carry out a suitable and sufficient illegal content risk assessment. Under section 11 of the Act, if a service is likely to be accessed by children, they must also carry out a suitable and sufficient children’s risk assessment. Under both sections of the Act, before making a significant change to any aspect of a service's design or operation, a provider must carry out a further risk assessment relating to the impacts of that change.  

On 13 May 2026, Meta launched Instants on Instagram, a feature that is accessible through Instagram Direct and enables users to share photos and videos captured directly within the application. Instants allows users to share content instantaneously with their friends and followers. Users are invited to add a caption before taking a photo or video, after which the content is automatically broadcast. Content shared via instants is ephemeral in nature and cannot be captured by screenshots.  

Investigation 

Ofcom has today opened an investigation into whether Meta failed to comply with its duties under sections 9(4) and 11(4) of the Act by not carrying out further suitable and sufficient illegal content and children’s risk assessments in respect of the launch of Instants. 

In light of these concerns, this investigation will seek to establish whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that Meta has failed to comply with its legal obligations as set out above.  

The opening of an investigation does not mean that Ofcom has reached any conclusion about whether the provider has breached its duties. However, where we identify compliance failures, we can impose fines of up to £18m or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue (whichever is greater). Ofcom’s Online Safety Enforcement Guidance sets out how Ofcom will normally approach enforcement under the Act. This includes our approach to information gathering and analysis and the procedural steps we must take to fairly determine the outcome of the investigation. 

Ofcom will provide updates on this page as the investigation progresses.