Instagram influencers, celebrities and brand accounts are affected
You might want to be wary about your Instagram account: a database—hosted by Amazon Web Services—was discovered and left exposed, revealing over 49 million Instagram accounts.
Exposed records include data from Instagram influencer accounts that include their bio, number of followers, and even private information such as the account’s email address and phone number. Affected personalities include prominent food bloggers and celebrities.
Based on Techcrunch’s research, the exposed database belongs to Mumbai-based social media marketing firm Chtrbox. The company pays influencers to post sponsored content on their Instagram accounts. The database also contains metrics per account that is used to calculate how much Chtrbox will pay Instagram influencers to post an ad.
Chtrbox has yet made a statement, though the database has since been taken offline. Facebook made a statement, saying that they are “looking into the issue to understand if the data described – including email and phone numbers – was from Instagram or from other sources.”
“We’re also inquiring with Chtrbox to understand where this data came from and how it became publicly available,” Facebook said in their statement.
