Digital Friday>>> Instagram fined €405m over children's data privacy

Picture Credit: Reuters Website

Instagram is a popular choice among both regular users and influencers due of its high engagement rate. The content on Instagram is more engaging than on other platforms. It is the best platform for engaging audiences, with hundreds of millions of daily active users.

Nevertheless Instagram was penalized €405 million by Irish authorities for abusing children's privacy. The ongoing issue centered on children's data, notably their email and phone numbers.

According to BBC, several users upgraded to corporate accounts in order to access analytics tools including profile visits without realizing this increased the amount of data that was made public. The company that owns Instagram, Meta, announced that it will challenge the ruling. The regulator has penalized the corporation three times.

Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) stated, "We adopted our final judgement last Friday and it does entail a fine of €405m [£349m]."

According to a Meta representative, this inquiry focused on old settings that was updated over a year ago. Since then, they've added several new features to help teens to secure their private information.

When a person under the age of 18 joins Instagram, their account is automatically set to private, meaning that only individuals they know can view what they post and that adults cannot message teenagers who are not following them.

Large technological firms with European headquarters in the Republic of Ireland are governed by the DPC. While it had cooperated fully with the DPC throughout their investigation, they disagree with the method used to determine this fine amount and plan to challenge it.

DPC has never imposed a fine as significant for a violation of the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union. But in contrast, the Luxembourgish data authorities penalized Amazon a record €746 million while it fined WhatsApp €225 million.

Andy Burrows, director of child safety online policy said: "This was a grave infringement with significant safeguarding consequences and the potential to do genuine harm to children using Instagram".

"The decision highlights how regulation is already making children safer online and shows how effective enforcement can protect children on social media. It's now up to the next prime minister to deliver the Online Safety Bill in full and without delay in order to meet his promise to provide children with the best protections possible" she added.

Picture Credit: TechHQ Website

October 14th 2022| 07:30 AM