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Instagram Accused of Leaking Phone Numbers, Email Addresses

Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Instagram. (Reuters)
Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Instagram. (Reuters)
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Instagram Accused of Leaking Phone Numbers, Email Addresses

Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Instagram. (Reuters)
Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Instagram. (Reuters)

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.

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Varieties

From Homeless to Tour Guide: Londoners Lead the Way Round the Streets They Know Best 

Unseen Tours guide Stefan Gordon, leads a tour around Canary Wharf's West India Quay in London, Britain, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
Unseen Tours guide Stefan Gordon, leads a tour around Canary Wharf's West India Quay in London, Britain, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
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From Homeless to Tour Guide: Londoners Lead the Way Round the Streets They Know Best 

Unseen Tours guide Stefan Gordon, leads a tour around Canary Wharf's West India Quay in London, Britain, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
Unseen Tours guide Stefan Gordon, leads a tour around Canary Wharf's West India Quay in London, Britain, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)

Stefan Gordon spent three years in a homeless shelter in London after a family rift left him without a roof over his head. Now he is using his past experience to tell the often hidden story of one of the capital's wealthiest areas.

Gordon, 31, is one of several formerly homeless people trained by Unseen Tours to lead guided walks in different London neighborhoods. The charity's aim is to reduce the stigma around homelessness and value people's potential.

"My view of homelessness is a person without a home... (but) just because they don't have a home, we can still do stuff," Gordon told Reuters as he led a group tour of Canary Wharf and West India Quay in east London.

In the 18th and 19th centuries the area, now the capital's business hub, was home to a large dock complex built to receive products such as sugar from the Caribbean, where enslaved people were forced to work on plantations.

The docks were created by and for merchants, but many of those who worked there were often badly paid and lived in poor conditions, something Gordon says he can relate to.

"Lots of people used to sleep in lodging houses and the hostel where I slept was an emergency lodging house so I kind of related a lot to that," Gordon said. "It was very, very tough back then... It's still tough now."

Gordon, who has autism, is now living with his mother and has been a guide since February. He gets paid 60% of the value of each tour ticket while the remainder is reinvested into Unseen Tours to cover operating costs and train new guides.

Unseen Tours' director of communication, Charlotte Cassedanne, said the guides, with help from the organization, research and design their own tours, and can incorporate their personal stories into their walks if they wish to do so.

They have been running for more than a decade, and 30,000 visitors have taken part in their tours. With six guides trained so far, Unseen Tours is currently fundraising to train three more.

"When you experience homelessness, you become sort of less than human... People ignore you daily... Putting them at the center of the storytelling really helps them have agency again," Cassedanne said.