Instagram's website leaked user contact information, including phone numbers and email addresses, a researcher said, according to the CNET website.
Data scientists David Stier said that the source code for some Instagram user profiles included the account holder's contact information whenever it loaded in a web browser, adding that he notified Instagram shortly after he discovered the problem earlier this year, the German news agency reported.
The contact information wasn't displayed on the account holder's profiles on the desktop version of the Instagram website, although it was used by the photo sharing site's app for communication.
According to Stier, the exposure appeared to include contact information for thousands of accounts, which belonged to private, businesses and brands. Including the information in the source code could let hackers scrape the data from the Instagram website, allowing them to assemble a virtual phone book.
Instagram spokeswoman Stephanie Otway said: "The contact information discovered in this case is not private contact information, but contact information a member of the Instagram community chose to share when converting their profile to a Business Profile."
Stier said he found evidence that the phone numbers and emails had been in the source code since at least October by looking at archived versions of Instagram profiles.
He reported the problem to Instagram in February and the problem was fixed in March.
