Ofcom has begun its first formal investigation into Facebook parent Meta under the Online Safety Act, probing whether the company sufficiently looked into the potential risks of its Instagram Instants feature before launching it in May.

The regulator said it’s looking into whether Meta violated the law by insufficiently checking whether Instants could, for instance, show illegal content or be accessed by children.

The OSA requires companies to carry out risk assessments before making significant changes to their offerings, with breaches penalised by anything from a formal warning up to a fine of up to 10 percent of their global turnover.

George Lusty, Ofcom’s director of enforcement, compared the risk-assessment process to testing a car before selling it.

“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,” he said.

The feature offers Snapchat-style disappearing messages.

Meta said it had conducted an appropriate risk analysis and had talked to Ofcom before launching Instants, adding that it includes safeguards such as blocking screenshots or forwarding.

“We will of course cooperate with Ofcom during this investigation,” Meta stated.

The Molly Rose Foundation charity said Meta must be “held to account for their failures under the Online Safety Act”.

Legal pushback

Ofcom is also investigating Meta over its alleged failure to comply with an information request involving WhatsApp Business under the Communications Act.

Meta is taking legal action against Ofcom to over several provisions of the OSA, including fees charged, the designation of WhatsApp and Instagram in a special category, and information provisions.

TikTok and X are joining Meta in the challenge to Ofcom’s request for transparency data.