Social media giant Meta has been dogged by privacy scandals for years. In the new investigation opened in the US, Facebook and Instagram are accused of intentionally harboring millions of underage users.
Do Instagram and Facebook monitor under-18 user data?
According to the complaint filed by 33 state attorneys general in the US, Meta was negligent with millions of Instagram accounts belonging to users under the age of 13. US law prohibits the collection of data from children under the age of 13. Meta knew about this, but failed to act.
The investigation launched by the attorneys general reviewed Meta’s internal documents. It turned out that the company routinely analyzed the data of a large number of underage Instagram users. However, the investigation claims that Meta only hid a fraction of these accounts.
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Meta was also said to have “coveted and tracked” underage users. In order to attract more users, the company scrutinized these accounts and collected personal data from children, including email address and location.
If these allegations are proven, Meta could be in big trouble. Each organization could impose fines of up to 50 thousand dollars per user. This means that Meta could face a fine of billions of dollars.
Meta stated that this investigation mischaracterizes the company’s work. The social media giant said that underage users are prohibited from being on its platforms and that it removes accounts when detected.
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