If You Violate Instagram's Privacy You Can Get A Fine

Instagram illustrations (Image Credit: Claudio Schwarz / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The parent social media company Instagram, Facebook, could be fined billions of dollars because of the estimated five million phone numbers and email addresses of underage users, it was found that hackers could infiltrate it.

Quoting Reuters , Monday 19 October, it was revealed by the Ireland Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC) that launched two investigations last month into people's concerns, where data on Instagram users under the age of 18 was threatened with leakage.

Instagram does allow users to convert their personal accounts into business accounts, but there is a problem because switching accounts requires users to pin contact details that are freely visible to the public.

But there is no check to see if the account is actually doing business. Unfortunately, even though Instagram has an age limit of 13 years for switching accounts, UK communications regulator Ofcom found more than one in five children between the ages of eight and 12 in the UK can use it.

A US data scientist, David Stier, who first discovered the loophole, estimates as many as five million children have their personal details exposed in this way, and a wide variety of complaints have now sparked investigations.

"DPC is actively monitoring complaints received from individuals in this area and has identified potential issues related to the processing of children's personal data on Instagram that warrant further examination," said deputy commissioner at IDPC, Graham Doyle.

However, Stier told the Telegraph that, "Instagram has enormous resources, but this incident shows that they have very low levels of empathy, safety awareness and care for their users."

Even so, a Facebook spokesperson did not comment much on this, but said, "We are in close contact with IDPC and we are working closely with their questions."