Ankara, Dec 11 (IANS): Turkey's data protection authority, the Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK), has fined Meta, the parent company of Instagram, 11.5 million Turkish liras (around 330,000 US dollars) for violations related to the privacy of minors.

The breach stemmed from Instagram allowing private accounts of users under the age of 18 to be switched into business accounts, effectively making them public and exposing personal data, said the protection authority in a statement on Wednesday.

KVKK explained that this feature exposed minors to online risks by revealing sensitive information such as email addresses and phone numbers through the platform's HTML source code, leaving them vulnerable to potential data harvesting.

The regulator determined that Meta failed to implement adequate technical safeguards to ensure the security of minors' data, thereby increasing their susceptibility to online risks, Xinhua news agency reported.

This triggered an ex officio investigation by the Turkish authority, and ultimately resulted in the fine.

In its statement, KVKK emphasised the critical need for stricter measures to protect children's privacy and data security online.