Tech giant Meta has been fined 21.6 billion won ($15 million) by South Korea’s privacy watchdog for illegally harvesting sensitive data from nearly one million Facebook users. The South Korea Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) revealed that this data collection included information on users’ sexual orientation, political views, and other personal beliefs, which was shared with thousands of advertisers.
Between July 2018 and March 2022, Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information from around 980,000 Facebook users. This included details about their religion, political views, and whether they were in same-sex unions. The data was subsequently shared with approximately 4,000 advertisers, raising significant privacy concerns.
South Korea’s privacy laws are stringent regarding the protection of personal beliefs and political views. They prohibit companies from processing or utilizing sensitive data without explicit consent from the individuals involved. The PIPC also criticized Meta for failing to implement adequate security measures. This lapse allowed hackers to exploit inactive pages, resulting in data breaches that affected at least 10 South Korean Facebook users.
This ruling follows a four-year investigation, highlighting the ongoing challenges companies face in maintaining compliance with privacy regulations in an increasingly data-driven world.
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