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South Korea imposed a fine of 21.62 billion won (approximately US$15.67 million) on Meta due to data privacy concerns.
Meta was collecting and then revealing confidential information of nearly 980,000 local Facebook users without authorization, according to the country's Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC). The information was transmitted to over 4,000 advertisers.
PIPC has stated, through an official statement that the collected data included the religious faith, political views, and sexual orientation of the users. An advertiser can access these details, which is a huge data breach on the social giant’s part. Meta Korea has not given any comments on the case so far.
According to the commission, meta-harvested user behaviour data including likes and interactions with advertisements. These interactions and sensitive user information were then used for creating targeted advertisements. For example, users were categorized as North Korean defectors, specific religious or LGBTQ groups.
The commission also established that Meta was unable to adequately safeguard data related to about 10 South Korean individuals, who became victims of a hacking attack. This inability to ensure the security of user data continues to bring more concerns as far as the commitment to privacy goes.
These violations of user rights have led to the South Korean government taking a very strong position regarding the protection of data. The Korean government’s focus is having stricter regulations for user consent within data collection processes.
The fine by South Korea marks another crucial step towards the global effort of keeping these giants accountable for their data practices. The fine imposed on Meta is a reminder to bring more transparency and accountability to the treatment of personal information.
