The Irish Data Protection Commission DPC (Irish Data Protect Commission) announced on Monday, September 5th, 2022 that a fine was imposed on the Meta subsidiary Instagram because the social network did not comply with data protection and privacy requirements for minors.

Sensitive data such as telephone numbers and email addresses of children to have been published. However, Section 8 of the GDPR stipulates that for children under 16 years of age, the consent of their legal guardian must be given in order for Instagram to be able to process their personal data. The online platform would therefore have to continuously check the age of its users in order to determine which users require such consent.

Publisher Andy Burrows, who monitors child safety in digital spaces for the NSPCC (Organization Prevention of Cruelty to Children), comments on the breach. Translated it means:

“This was a serious breach that had significant safeguarding implications and the potential to cause real harm to children using Instagram. The ruling shows how effective enforcement can protect children on social media and highlights how the rules are already making children safer online.”

Andy Burrows

He also calls on the new Prime Minister Liz Truss to comprehensively introduce the “Online Safety Bill”, a legislative proposal to improve internet security, which was already published as a draft in mid-May 2021 

Meta defends herself

The Meta company is defending itself and wants to counteract the high fine; the determination of the violation relates to outdated settings. Meta assured the BBC that there are now functions on the platform that explicitly protect children and young people. In this regard, the social network published a package of measures at the beginning of the year, which also included a new method for age verification. In the future, this will prevent users from being under the minimum age of 13 if they want to join Instagram.

In the statement, the company also mentions that all users under the age of 18 now automatically receive a private account as soon as they join Instagram. This means that only people they follow can see what is posted and published by the users and no unknown people can send messages to the young people. This protects you from unwanted contact requests. Instagram is now also actively pointing out the advantages of these private accounts.

Because of this, the fine is incomprehensible for Meta and they intend to appeal.

At 405 million euros, the fine is in second place in the ranking of fines imposed for GDPR violations and only behind an Amazon fine from 2021 worth 746 million euros.

Sources:
GDPR §8
BBC
“Online Safety Bill” proposed
by the Data Protection Commission

Also read:
Instagram blocks Pornhub account

Author: Nick L.


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