According to the results of the study, young people aged 13 to 17, authorised by Facebook Ireland, were able to expand their professional accounts on the Instagram platform. In some cases, telephone numbers or email addresses of younger adolescents were made available to other users because of the characteristics of the business accounts.

On the other hand, the accounts broadcast by minors on Instagram were automatically configured as “public accounts” if the user himself did not explicitly place them as private. Thus, the contents of the adolescent social network were public from the beginning.

The Data Protection Commission of Ireland started its investigation in September 2020 in relation to the information submitted to the Commission. Following Instagram’s resolution to violate adolescent data protection laws, the company has been fined €405 million. Next week they will give more details on the decision taken.