Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been fined over $15 million for illegally collecting sensitive information.
South Korea’s privacy watchdog has fined Meta after an investigation revealed the company illegally collected sensitive user data and shared it with thousands of advertisers.
The country’s Personal Information Protection Commission announced on Tuesday that Meta had obtained information from about 980,000 South Korean Facebook users on topics such as their religion, political views, and sexuality without their consent.
According to the statement, Meta analyzed Facebook users’ liked pages and clicked advertisements to categorize ads and identify users interested in specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, as well as information related to North Korean escapees. This sensitive information was then provided to approximately 4,000 advertisers.
Under South Korean privacy laws, companies are prohibited from processing or using sensitive data related to personal beliefs, political views, or sexual behavior without explicit consent.
“While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent,” the statement reads.
The Commission also stated that Meta unfairly declined user requests to access personal information and failed to prevent data leaks affecting about ten South Koreans.
The company has been ordered to pay 21.62 billion won ($15.67 million) in fines. The Commission stated that it will continue to monitor Meta’s compliance with its corrective order.
This is not the first time Meta has been held accountable for data breaches. In September, European regulators fined Meta $100 million for storing users’ passwords without protection or encryption. In June, Nigeria ordered the tech giant to pay a $220 million fine for breaching local data protection and privacy laws. Türkiye has also fined the company 1.2 billion lira ($35 million) after an investigation into data sharing on its Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp platforms.