UK’s Ofcom probing Meta over child safety of Instagram’s ‘Instants’

What happened

The social media giant unveiled the Instants feature to UK users in May. Content captured via Instants is automatically broadcast.

It can only be viewed by other users once and cannot be captured on screenshots. Ofcom has several ongoing investigations into online platforms in the country, including TikTok, X and 4Chan.

ENTERPRISE UK’s Ofcom probing Meta over child safety of Instagram’s ‘Instants’ by Suhasini Srinivasaragavan 7 Oct 2026 Save article Image: © prima91/Stock.adobe.com Ofcom has several ongoing investigations into online platforms in the country, including TikTok, X and 4Chan. Instagram’s ‘Instants’ has become the centre of a fresh investigation in the UK over concerns that Meta did not assess the feature for child safety before launch.

Instants is accessible via the direct messaging section of Instagram and allows users to share photos and videos taken directly from the app. UK law requires user-to-user service providers to carry out risk assessments around illegal content and child safety. For Meta, which made more than $200bn in revenue in 2025, the fine is hefty.

Key facts

• UK law — requires: user-to-user service providers to carry out risk assessments around illegal content and child safety