The South Korean industry regulator fined the American company Meta
Platforms 21.62 billion won ($15.67 million) for collecting confidential user data and then transferring it to advertisers without having the right to do so. The Reuters news agency writes about this with reference to a statement by the Personal Data Protection Commission of South Korea.
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According to the source, the American technology giant collected information about approximately 980 thousand South Korean users of the social network Facebook, including data on their religious preferences, political views, etc. At the same time, Meta did not receive explicit permission from users to collect and process data, which became the reason for the punishment. About 4 thousand advertisers used the information collected in this way.
«Meta was found to be analyzing user behavior data, including the pages they viewed and the advertisements they clicked on on Facebook. The company also created and managed advertising profiles associated with sensitive information,” the regulator said in a statement. Official representatives of Meta do not comment on this issue.
According to the department, Meta classified users into different categories. In particular, separate groups were created for defectors from North Korea who profess a certain religion and adhere to certain life paradigms and views. In addition, Meta improperly denied user requests to access personal information and failed to prevent the leak of personal information of several South Korean residents.