South Korea has ordered Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, to pay a fine of 21.62 billion won (approximately $15.67 million). This decision comes after an investigation revealed that the company collected sensitive user data and shared it with advertisers without a legal basis, according to Seoul’s data protection agency.
The investigation found that Meta collected information from around 980,000 South Korean Facebook users regarding their religion, political views, and sexuality, all without seeking user consent, according to a statement from the Personal Information Protection Commission on Tuesday. This information was then utilized by approximately 4,000 advertisers. A Meta Korea representative declined to provide comments on the matter.
The commission specifically noted that Meta analyzed user behavior data, including the pages users liked and the advertisements they clicked on, to create and manage advertising campaigns related to sensitive information. This included categorizing users based on characteristics such as being North Korean defectors, adhering to a specific religion, or identifying as transgender or part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Additionally, Meta was found to have unfairly denied users’ requests to access their personal information and failed to prevent the leakage of data belonging to about 10 South Korean individuals by hackers, according to the agency’s report.
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