Instagram has to pay a fine of 405 million euros in the EU. Because of a breach of data protection. The details.
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Record fine: Instagram has to pay 405 million euros.
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The Data Protection Commission (DPC) of Ireland has fined Instagram €405 million, Reuters reports, citing the Data Protection Commission. There is no official notification from the DPC yet.
Data from minors have been made public
The reason for the record fine: Instagram violated data protection law in connection with the data of children and young people. Because Instagram had allowed underage users between the ages of 13 and 17 to operate business accounts on Instagram. This allowed the minors to publish their telephone number and/or email address.
A spokesman for Meta (Instagram belongs to Meta, the umbrella company of Facebook) emphasized that Instagram had changed these settings more than a year ago, as reported by Deutschlandfunk. Since then, young people have been better protected and their data has always been private and no longer freely accessible, according to Meta. Instagram plans to appeal the Data Protection Commission’s decision.
Like Facebook or Apple, Instagram has its EU headquarters in Ireland. Therefore, the Irish Data Protection Commission is responsible for Instagram.
In 2021, Ireland’s data protection authority fined whatsapp, also owned by Meta, €225 million: Whatsapp’s €225 million hammer fine – the reason. Whatsapp is taking legal action against the fine before the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Whatsapp with data protection notice – that’s changing
