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IG put the personal information of children as young as 13 on display because of the security breach.
Irish regulators fined Instagram heavily after an investigation found that the social media platform had violated strict European Union data privacy rules by mishandling teenagers’ personal information.
The Data Protection Commission of Ireland said Monday that it had finalized its decision to fine Instagram 405 million euros ($A591.5 million). Still, the full text will not be released until next week.
The fine is the EU’s second-largest penalty after Luxembourg’s regulators fined Amazon 746 million euros last year.
Meta, the mother company of Instagram and Facebook, said that it agrees to disagree with regulators on how the fine was calculated—regardless, they will be appealing it.
“We’ve worked hard to make sure that our products live up to the highest standards of privacy protection,” said Instagram in a statement. “We’re disappointed with this decision and are considering our options.”
The fine is based on violations of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which took effect in 2018. The law requires companies to get explicit consent from users before collecting and using their data.
The Irish regulator said that its investigation found that Instagram had violated the law by “failed to obtain valid consent from children under the age of 16” for several different purposes, including advertising.
The regulator also found that Instagram had collected “biometric data”—including facial recognition data—without users’ explicit consent.
“This is a significant fine,” said DPC Commissioner Helen Dixon in a press release. “It sends a clear message that child safety comes first, especially when it comes to the social media of minors.”
The Irish regulator launched its investigation into Instagram after a data scientist discovered that users, including minors, were switching to business accounts that displayed their contact information on the profile page.
Some users accessed the statistics to see how many likes their posts were getting after Instagram started removing the feature from personal accounts in some countries. This change is because Instagram wanted to help with mental health.
Instagram’s inquiry focuses on privacy features for teens that were updated over a year ago. They have since released new privacy settings, one of which automatically sets accounts to private when joining.
Companies need to be aware of the data privacy rules and regulations to avoid hefty fines. In this case, Instagram has been fined heavily for violating EU data privacy rules. The incident goes to show that no one is above the law when it comes to data privacy. Companies need to be extra careful when handling users’ personal information, especially when those users are minors.
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