Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has been fined $15 million by South Korean authorities for collecting private information of users and sharing it with advertisers.
The illegally collected data, including religious and political views, was gathered from Facebook and shared with thousands of advertisers, according to the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC).
Meta has been under intense regulatory glare in South Korea for its handling of personal information of users. The $15 million penalty arrives in conclusion to a four-year investigation, which reportedly impacted 980,000 Facebook users.
“While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent,” Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission, says.
The violations took place from July 2018 to March 2022. The watchdog says Meta shared users’ private information with 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea strictly prohibits tech companies from processing user data related to their political views, religious beliefs, and personal relationships without informed consent.
