Seoul, Nov 5 (EFE).- American tech giant Meta was ordered on Tuesday to pay 21.6 billion won ($15.6 million) for collecting sensitive data from 980,000 South Korean Facebook users without prior notice and handing it over to advertisers.
The South Korean data protection watchdog, the Personal Information Protection Commission, said it decided to fine the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp in a plenary meeting held on Monday after finding that the company had illegally collected sensitive data such as religious and political views, marital status and sexual orientation.
The South Korean Personal Information Protection Act prohibits the use of information such as a person’s ideology, beliefs, political opinions and sexuality, except when the subject consents to its use.
In addition to collecting this data without the consent of users, Meta is accused of transferring the information to 4,000 advertisers, who used this data to develop personalized ads.
The tech giant did not clearly specify in its privacy policy where personal data was being used, according to the commission that imposed the fine, and did not seek users’ consent or take other protective measures.
Meta also allowed hackers to change passwords for deactivated accounts by accepting fake IDs, resulting in the leak of personal information of 10 local users, it added.
In addition to the fine, the tech company has been ordered to legally justify its use of sensitive information, guarantee data security, and respond to users’ requests to access their personal information. EFE
co-pyr/tw
