South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) imposed a fine of 21.6 billion won ($15 million) on social media giant Meta on Tuesday for illegally gathering sensitive data from Facebook users, including political affiliations and sexual orientation, and sharing it with numerous advertisers. This marks the latest in a series of actions taken by South Korean regulators against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, due to concerns about data privacy practices.
Four-Year Investigation Reveals Unlawful Practices
Following an in-depth investigation spanning four years, the PIPC found that Meta had collected personal information from approximately 980,000 Facebook users between July 2018 and March 2022 without explicit consent. The data reportedly included users' religious beliefs, political stances, and indications of same-sex relationships, which were then shared with around 4,000 advertisers.
Violations of Privacy Law Protections
South Korean privacy regulations strictly protect personal beliefs, political views, and sexual orientation data, requiring specific user consent for processing or sharing such information. According to the commission, Meta analyzed user interactions such as liked pages and clicked ads to create targeted ad categories, which included interests in specific religions, LGBTQ+ issues, and topics related to North Korean defectors. “Meta’s vague policy references failed to make users aware of these practices,” said Lee Eun Jung, a PIPC director who led the investigation.
The PIPC further cited Meta for neglecting basic security protocols, such as deactivating inactive pages, which enabled hackers to impersonate users and request password resets for other Facebook accounts. This vulnerability led to breaches impacting at least ten South Korean Facebook users, according to Lee.
Ongoing Regulatory Actions Against Meta
In response to the fine, Meta’s South Korean office indicated it would carefully review the PIPC’s decision, though no further comments were provided. This recent penalty follows other major fines, including a record combined penalty of 100 billion won ($72 million) levied in 2022 against Meta and Google for tracking users’ online activity without consent. Previously, in 2020, Meta was fined 6.7 billion won ($4.8 million) for sharing user data with third parties without permission.
Meta has faced scrutiny beyond South Korea. Last month, European regulators imposed over $100 million in fines following a 2019 security breach that exposed user passwords. South Korea's continued pressure on Meta underscores the importance of data privacy and the rising demand for transparency and accountability in handling personal data worldwide.
With inputs from agencies
Image Source: Multiple agencies
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