Ireland Fines Meta $400 Million For Breaking Children’s Data Privacy Laws
CRACKDOWN
This is the third time that the Irish regulator has hit the social media giant with a penalty amid a concerted crackdown on companies sharing children’s data online.
Tech giant Meta was hit with a roughly $400 million fine this month by an Irish regulator for violating children’s data on its social platform Instagram. According to the New York Times on Monday, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said on Sept. 2 that it was imposing the massive fine under the General Data Protection Regulation, the European Union’s four-year-old data privacy law. The latest penalty is the third by the agency against a Meta-owned company, and targets Instagram for setting the accounts of children aged 13 to 17 public by default, as well as allowing teenagers to publicly share their phone numbers and email addresses. Meta said it plans to appeal the decision, adding that the regulator’s investigation is based on old settings that have since been updated. Additionally, this most recent action against Meta comes as lawmakers and agencies are pressing for tougher policies to safeguard children’s privacy and data online.
