Instagram Fined EUR 405 Million for Mishandling Personal Data of Teenagers

Instagram has been reportedly slapped with EUR 405 million (roughly Rs. 3,200 crore) fine on Monday for violating strict European Union data privacy rules. The Meta-owned social media platform has been found to mishandle the personal information of teenagers. The Ireland’s Data Protection Commission’s investigation allegedly revealed that Instagram displayed the personal information of users between the age of 13 and 17 years. Instagram’s parent Meta disagrees with the way the fine was calculated and has expressed its desire to appeal the fine.

According to Reuters, Instagram will have to pay Irish authorities a EUR 405 million fine as it was found to have violated EU data privacy rules.

A data scientist reportedly discovered that Instagram had displayed the personal details of users between the age of 13 and 17 years. The report suggested that several teenage users who switched to a business account had their contact information displayed on their profiles.

It is believed that users switched to business accounts to track the statistics of their accounts. Instagram had supposedly started removing this feature from personal accounts in several countries.

Instagram has stated that the investigation made by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission centred around “old settings” that were updated over a year ago, including new privacy features for teens. The Irish watchdog will reveal the complete details of this fine next week.