Meta Faces Hefty Fines for Sensitive Data Misuse in South Korea

South Korea's data protection agency has fined Meta Platforms 21.62 billion won ($15.67 million) for collecting sensitive user data from around 980,000 South Korean users without consent. The data, including information on religion and political views, was used by 4,000 advertisers. Meta also failed to address user data access requests and data leaks.

South Korea has imposed a fine of 21.62 billion won ($15.67 million) on Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, for the unauthorized collection of sensitive user data and its distribution to advertisers.

The nation's data protection agency revealed that information from approximately 980,000 South Korean Facebook users, covering aspects like religion and political affiliation, was harvested. The U.S. tech giant did not seek user consent as required by law, the Personal Information Protection Commission confirmed on Tuesday.

The data was made available to around 4,000 advertisers. Moreover, Meta ignored requests from users to access their personal information and failed to prevent a data leak involving approximately ten South Korean users, as stated by the agency. A representative for Meta Korea declined to comment on the matter.

(With inputs from agencies.)