Recent policy changes intended to improve Facebook Inc.’s photo and video sharing service Instagram may have backfired, as young users switch to business accounts that force them to disclose personal information to the public.

Instagram started removing “like” count from posts as part of a trial in May in Canada before extending that trial to Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand July 18. Ostensibly to assist with mental health and bullying, the move to remove like counts removes the competition aspect of users chasing likes but has not been well-received by some users.

There is some argument that the move is all about taking power away from influencers and giving it to business users so as Instagram can tap into more revenue streams. That switch hasn’t gone unnoticed by younger users either, which is what’s prompting them to switching to Instagram business accounts.

“Millions of young people are turning their personal Instagram accounts into ‘business’ profiles to learn more about how their posts are performing,” Bloomberg reported Friday, noting that the trend has unintended privacy consequences.

To switch to an Instagram business account, users agree to provide their phone number or email to the public on the app. With a legitimate business, that’s not a problem, but there is no vetting criteria in that process. That means that anyone can obtain a business account by providing personal information whether or not there’s a legitimate business.

The advantages to having an Instagram business account include real-time metrics based on how a story or posts are performing throughout the day as well as “insights about followers and how they interact with your posts and stories.”

Fond of the extra functions, young users are apparently signing up in big numbers. According to researcher David Stier, about 2 million 12- to 15-year-old Instagram users currently have their phone or email information or both publicly listed on the platform, and more than 60 million kids can easily change their profile to a business account that reveals that information, Stier wrote on Medium.

Instagram doesn’t see a problem, telling Bloomberg that “during the setup process, we remind people that their contact information will be accessible to others, and allow them to update or hide that information.”

Even with the choice, the exposure of any private data can be troublesome at the best of times but more so when it involves people under the age of 18. Having just agreed to pay a $5 billion settlement with regulators over its privacy practices, Facebook’s exposure of personal details of million of kids on Instagram is not a good look.

Photo: PresbyPhotos/Wikimedia Commons