Accordingly, the Korean Personal Data Protection Commission announced its decision to fine Meta Platforms Inc (parent company of Facebook and Instagram) 21.6 billion won (equivalent to 15.6 million USD) for collecting sensitive user data without notifying and providing it to advertisers.
The decision to fine Meta was made at a plenary meeting of the commission on November 4, the commission said.
At the same time, the Korean Personal Data Protection Commission also discovered that Meta violated Korean law when collecting data on religion, political views, marital status and sexual orientation of about 980,000 Facebook users in this "land of kimchi".
The Korean Personal Information Protection Act prohibits the use of information such as a person's opinions, beliefs, political views, and sex life unless the person consents to the use.
Meta is also accused of passing on the collected information to about 4,000 advertisers, who used the data to create customized ads based on users' personal interests.
According to the commission, Facebook's parent company failed to clearly state where personal data was used in its data policy, nor did it ask for user consent or implement additional safeguards. In addition, Meta allowed hackers to change passwords of disabled accounts by accepting fake IDs, leading to the leak of personal information of 10 South Korean users.
The Korea Personal Data Protection Commission also requested Meta to provide a legal basis for using sensitive information, take measures to ensure data security, and respond honestly to users' requests for access to personal information.
Currently, Meta has not responded to the above decision.
