Following an investigation into the social network Instagram’s handling of children’s data, Ireland’s data privacy regulator has agreed to levy a record fine of 405 million euros ($402 million), according to a spokesperson for the watchdog.

Instagram intends to appeal the fine, according to an emailed statement from parent company Meta Platforms Inc.

The investigation, which began in 2020, focused on child users between the ages of 13 and 17 who were allowed to operate business accounts, allowing the user’s phone number and/or email address to be published.

“We adopted our final decision last Friday and it does contain a fine of 405 million euro,” said the spokesperson for Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), the lead regulator of Instagram’s parent company Meta Platforms Inc.

He stated that the decision’s full details will be released next week.

According to the Meta spokesperson, Instagram updated its settings over a year ago and has since released new features to keep teens safe and their information private.

According to the spokesperson, Instagram is unhappy with how the fine was calculated and is carefully reviewing the decision.

Because their EU headquarters are in Ireland, the DPC regulates Facebook, Apple, Google, and other technology behemoths. It has launched investigations into a number of Meta companies, including Facebook and WhatsApp.

WhatsApp was fined a record 225 million euros last year for failing to comply with EU data rules in 2018.

In December, the Irish regulator completed a draft ruling in the Instagram investigation and shared it with other European Union regulators as part of the bloc’s “one-stop shop” system for regulating large multinational corporations.

(Adapted from FinancialExpress.com)