Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has announced that it plans to fine social media platform Instagram $402 million due to mistreatment and mishandling of children’s data. The DPC found that Instagram allowed children to run business accounts that displayed the account holder’s phone number and email address. Therefore, Instagram was effectively exposing the minors’ data. In addition, the EU’s regulator found that the accounts of users under the age of 18 were set to public by default when they should default to private due to age concerns.
A spokesperson from Meta, the parent company of Instagram, stated that the social media platform updated its privacy settings over a year ago and has since adopted new features that are designed to keep teens and their information safe and private. The company also claims to have engaged with the regulator throughout the investigation process but stated that it disagreed with fine total. This marks the second highest fine issued by the DPC under the General data Protection Regulation.
Read More: Meta Fined $400m in Ireland For Children’s Privacy Breach
