Ofcom is investigating whether Meta breached its duties under the UK's online safety laws with the launch of its "Instants" feature on Instagram.

The tool - allowing users to take and share an instant image with close friends, that disappears once viewed - was launched on Meta's photo-sharing app in May as "a new way to share photos in the moment".

But the regulator said the social media giant had not properly assessed risks posed by the feature prior to launching it - something it is required to do under the UK's Online Safety Act (OSA).

A Meta spokesperson said in a statement that it "takes 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," they said.

Ofcom said its probe would examine whether Meta breached OSA duties by not carrying out "a suitable and sufficient illegal content risk assessment and children's risk assessment before the launch of Instants".

Under the UK's sweeping online safety rules, platforms including Meta must carry out and update risk assessments to comply with a range of duties, including to tackle illegal content.

They must also show how they prevent children permitted to use their services from encountering content deemed harmful for them.

This spans material relating to pornography, or promoting self-harm or suicide - as "priority primary content" - alongside things like abusive, hateful or bullying content.

"Our online safety laws are clear – significant changes to platforms must be risk assessed before they're launched," said Ofcom enforcement director George Lusty.

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