The Irish Data Protection Commissioner, the equivalent of the CNIL in Ireland, is the main regulator of GAFAs in Europe, due to the domicile of their headquarters in Ireland. He has just announced that he has imposed a record fine of 405 million euros on behalf of the European Union, for the mishandling of personal data of minors on Instagram.
Business accounts and default public accounts on Instagram are very expensive for Meta
In December 2020, the Irish CNIL, called “Irish Data Protection Commissioner”, opened an investigation into Instagram’s practices regarding the management of personal data of underage users. The investigation concerns on the one hand the public accounts by default and on the other hand, the work account function which made the e-mail addresses and telephone numbers of people under 18 too easily accessible. Even though Instagram corrected these “negligence” against the privacy of minors, Meta did not escape a heavy fine whose decision had been awaited since the opening of the investigation in 2020. The media did not wait for the final decision has been published and already relays the record amount of the fine of 405 million euros, since confirmed by the DPC.
Second sanction against Meta for poor management of personal data
Last year, the DPC fined WhatsApp a record 225 million euros for its lack of transparency in handling personal data. Other platforms like Tiktok, also accused of failing to protect minors, have had to change their practices that do not respect the privacy of minors. In 2021, TikTok took numerous measures to protect young users, including making all accounts of those under the age of sixteen private by default and disabling their access to direct messaging following complaints launched by the European Organization consumers (BEUC) who also report aggressive advertising practices, targeting young audiences.