UK Opens Meta Probe Over Instagram Instants

UK communications regulator Ofcom is investigating whether Meta adequately assessed risks posed by its Instagram Instants feature before launching it in May.

Instagram Instants lets users share photos and videos that ​disappear after someone opens them and can’t be viewed after 24 hours.

Ofcom said on Oct. 6 that the probe 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.

The UK’s Online Safety Act requires tech companies to assess and reduce the risk of UK users encountering illegal content.

Platforms likely to be used by children must also take steps to protect under-18s from certain types of harmful material. Companies must update those assessments before making significant changes to their services’ design or operation.

Ofcom Director of Enforcement George Lusty said online safety laws are clear.

“You wouldn’t launch a new car without testing it properly, and it’s the same for online services,” he said. “Safety by design must be built in, not bolted on, and today’s investigation shows we’ll take action where we have concerns that providers are failing to comply.” 

A Meta spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the company had complied with its obligations under UK law.

“We conducted a risk analysis and briefed Ofcom about this feature on a number of occasions before launching it,” the spokesperson said. “Instants has in-built protections, including blocking screenshots, reshares and forwarding, no public feed, and Teen Account protections on automatically.”

Meta will cooperate with the regulator during the investigation, the spokesperson added.

In May, when it launched Instants, Meta said the feature incorporates the same safety and privacy protections already available across Instagram. Users can choose whether to share their Instants with close friends or followers they follow back.

Meta said at the time that protections for younger users were in place, saying Instants is automatically integrated with Instagram Teen Accounts and Family Center.

Ofcom said that opening an investigation does not mean it has concluded that Meta breached the law. If the regulator reaches a provisional finding that the company failed to comply, Meta will have an opportunity to respond before it makes a final decision.

If the regulator ultimately concludes that Meta broke the law, it can require the company to take steps to comply with the Online Safety Act or to address harm caused by any breach.

Ofcom can also impose financial penalties of up to 18 million pounds ($23.7 million), or 10 percent of a company’s qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.

Earlier this year, Ofcom warned major online platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Roblox, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, that they could face enforcement action if they failed to assess the risks of significant product changes before rolling them out.

Earlier this month, New Mexico asked a state-level judge to impose penalties from $35 billion to $40 billion on Meta Platforms for misleading consumers about Facebook data privacy practices.

Lawyers for the state made the request at a hearing in a lawsuit brought after revelations in the Cambridge Analytica scandal that broke in 2018.

The UK political consultancy, which worked on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, collected personal information from up to 87 million Facebook users through a third-party app. The users had not agreed to that collection. The firm turned the data into political profiles and targeted ads.

Matthew Vadum contributed to this report.