Fakoyejo OlalekanMark Zuckerberg’s social media company, Instagram, has been fined €405 million by Ireland’s data privacy regulator, Data Protection Commission (DPC), over mishandling of data belonging to children using the platform’s business account.
It was disclosed that children between the ages of 13 and 17 years had been allowed to upgrade to business account without knowledge that their private information would be made public.
The children had upgraded to access profile visits analytic tool. While Instagram’s parent company, Meta Platform, had argued that the setting had been reviewed to prevent data of persons under 18 from being public, DPC went on to fine the social networking site.
Deputy Commissioner of the Irish Data Protection Commission, Graham Doyle, said, “We adopted our final decision last Friday and it does contain a fine of 405 million euro.” He was quoted by the Washington Post on Tuesday.
DPC’s €405 million fine is the highest in Ireland. Another company under Meta Platform, WhatsApp, had been fined €225 million last year, while Amazon was fined €746 million by Luxembourg’s data authority.
Reacting to the fine, Meta Platforms said it will appeal the judgement, stating that, “This inquiry focused on old settings that we updated over a year ago, and we’ve since released many new features to help keep teens safe and their information private.”
Meanwhile, Andy Burrows, the head of child-safety-online policy for National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), praised the fine, stating that, “This was a major breach that had significant safeguarding implications and the potential to cause real harm to children using Instagram.
“The ruling demonstrates how effective enforcement can protect children on social media and underlines how regulation is already making children safer online.
“It’s now over to the new prime minister to keep the promise to give children the strongest possible protections by delivering the Online Safety Bill in full and without delay.”
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