John Paul M. Joaquin Tech 09.05.2022 21:Sep PM EDT

Instagram Found Violating Children’s Privacy by Irish Regulator; Is Fined $402M

Meta has been hit with the largest fine it has received from the European Union (EU) so far.

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPR) has recently fined the California-based social media giant around €405 million for violating children's privacy settings on Instagram.

The DPC is the Irish supervisory authority for the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the national independent authority that upholds the fundamental right of individuals in the EU to protect people's personal data, per the Commission's official website.

DPC $400 Million Meta Fine Details

The Irish DPC mentioned that it is fining Meta with its second-highest fine for its handling of children's privacy settings on Instagram, violating Europe's GDPR.

According to Tech Crunch, the Irish DPR's complaint with Instagram is focused on the platform's processing of children's data for business accounts and on a user registration system it uses.

The Irish DPR found that the social media platform's user registration system could lead to the accounts of child users set to "public" by default unless the owner changes it manually to make it "private."

As a result, personal data like email addresses and phone numbers is made publicly available by default if child users did not make it a point to change their Instagram business account from "public" to "private."

The Irish DPC also found that teenagers are also affected by Instagram's handling of personal data.

Politico's report on the Irish DPR's decision mentioned that the fine, estimated to be worth $402 million, is the second-highest fine it has given Meta under the GDPR.

It is also the third (and largest) the Irish DPR gave for a Meta-owned company.

The previous two fines involved WhatsApp, which was penalized for about $266 million, and Facebook, receiving a fine of around $18,6 million.

The Irish DPC confirmed the penalty in an emailed statement but declined to further comment on the matter. However, a report from Engadget mentioned that it would reveal additional details about the decision sometime next week.

The Irish DPC did not decide on giving Meta's Instagram a hefty fine. Other Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) reviewed its decision before greenlighting the fine.

However, doing so took extra time as some DPAs raised their objections to the Irish DPC's draft decision. The DPAs' objections triggered a procedure in the regulation made to settle disputes but could lead to many more months of review and investigation.

Meta's Response

A Meta spokesperson said that the inquiry the Irish DPC made focused on old settings that were updated over a year ago and that it has since provided minors new features to help keep them and their information safe.

"Anyone under 18 automatically has their account set to private when they join Instagram, so only people they know can see what they post, and adults can't message teens who don't follow them," the spokesperson added. "We engaged fully with the DPC throughout their inquiry, and we're carefully reviewing their final decision."

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