SEOUL (AFP) – South Korea has fined Facebook-parent Meta more than USD15 million for illegally collecting sensitive user information from nearly a million people without consent and sharing it with advertisers, the country’s data watchdog said yesterday.
The firm, which also owns Instagram, ran afoul of laws prohibiting the use of information on political opinions among others, Seoul’s Personal Information Protection Commission added.
It added that the tech giant collected sensitive information from around 980,000 domestic users in South Korea through their Facebook profiles.
The watchdog said it had confirmed that such information was provided to advertisers by Meta, with around 4,000 advertisers using it. Meta “analysed user behaviour data, including pages liked and ads clicked on Facebook”, to create and implement targeted advertising related to “sensitive themes”, officials said.
The commission said yesterday it had decided to fine Meta KRW21.6 billion (USD15.6 million). It added that it “also ordered the company to establish legal grounds for processing sensitive information, implement safety measures, and respond diligently to users’ requests for access to their personal data”. The decision is “significant in that they ensure that foreign operators providing global services must comply with the obligations set forth in (South Korea’s) Protection Act regarding the processing of sensitive information”.
