According to the latest report, a spokesman for Ireland’s data privacy regulator said that after an investigation into the social network Instagram’s handling of children’s data, the Irish data privacy regulator has agreed to impose a record fine of 405 million euros.
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Instagram plans to appeal the fine, a spokesman for Instagram parent Meta said in an emailed statement. The survey, which began in 2020, focuses on children aged 13 to 17. Instagram allowed these child users to run business accounts, prompting them to disclose their phone numbers and/or email addresses, in alleged violation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
A spokesman for Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) said: “We passed the final decision last Friday, which included a €405 million fine. Full details of the decision will be published next week.”
A Meta spokesperson said Instagram updated its settings more than a year ago and has since released new features to keep teens safe and messages private. The spokesperson said Instagram disagreed with how the fine was calculated and was carefully reviewing the decision.
Since the EU headquarters of Meta, Apple, Google, and other tech giants are located in Ireland, the DPC is responsible for regulating them. The agency has launched more than a dozen investigations into Meta companies, including Facebook and WhatsApp.
WhatsApp was fined a record 225 million euros last year for failing to comply with EU data rules in 2018. Irish regulators finalized a draft ruling on the Instagram probe in December and shared it with other EU regulators under the EU’s “one-stop” system for overseeing large multinational companies.
