The EU has handed down its second-largest privacy fine in history to Instagram. The 405 million euros fine is around one percent of Meta’s (Instagram’s parent company) net income for 2021.
It is the culmination of an investigation, which was begun in 2020 and focused specifically on users of the platform aged between 13 and 17 years old who were operating business accounts. Investigators found that their phone numbers and email addresses had been published online by default. The Wall Street Journal reports that Meta updated settings in 2019 so that business users could opt out of showing their contact details; and that “users under 18 years old now have their accounts set automatically to private when they sign up”.
The case reflects the decision by the EU to take a tougher stance on the implementation of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Luxembourg fined Amazon.com 746 million euros last year whilst Ireland fined WhatsApp 225 million euros - both for alleged privacy violations.
Meta is planning on appealing the decision, according to Reuters.
