UK Investigates Instagram’s ‘Instants’ Over Safety Risks of Disappearing Photos

The U.K. has opened an investigation into whether Meta breached safety laws with its Instagram’s Instants feature, which shares disappearing photos.

In May, Instagram launched its Snapchat clone Instants, which lets users share disappearing photos with their close friends or mutual followers that can be viewed only once and remain available for 24 hours. The feature was made available both inside Instagram and via a standalone Instants app.

However, in a post on Tuesday, U.K. media regulator Ofcom announced that it is now investigating Meta over Instagram’s Instants. Ofcom says Meta may not have properly assessed the risks of Instagram’s disappearing-photo feature before launching it, as required under the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA).

The regulator’s formal investigation will determine whether Meta carried out a “suitable and sufficient” assessment of the risk of illegal content appearing through the Instants feature, as well as any potential risks to children, before it launched in May.

‘You Wouldn’t Launch a New Car Without Testing it’

Under the UK’s online safety rules, tech platforms such as Meta are required to assess and regularly update the risks associated with their services. They must take steps to address illegal content and show how they protect children who are allowed to use their platforms from content that could be harmful to them.

“Our online safety laws are clear — significant changes to platforms must be risk assessed before they’re launched,” George Lusty, Director of Enforcement at Ofcom, says in a statement. “This is a vital step that tech firms must take to protect their users. You wouldn’t launch a new car without testing it properly, and it’s the same for online services.”

“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.”

In a statement to Reuters, Meta says it took its regulatory obligations under the Online Safety Act seriously.

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

The spokesperson adds: “We will of ​course co-operate with Ofcom during this investigation.”

Image creditsAll photos via Instagram.