A brand new report reveals that South Korea has slapped Meta Platforms, the proprietor of Fb, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, with a effective of 21.62 billion gained ($15.67 million). The penalty comes after it was discovered that Meta had collected delicate consumer information and shared it with advertisers with out correct authorized grounds.
Seoul’s information safety company claims that Meta collected information on round 980,000 South Korean Fb customers, together with particulars on faith, political beliefs, and sexuality, with out consumer consent. This delicate information was then reportedly shared with roughly 4,000 advertisers.
Particularly, it has been discovered that (Meta) analysed consumer conduct information corresponding to pages they preferred and ads they clicked on Fb and created and managed promoting themes associated to delicate info.
– South Korea’s Private Data Safety Fee, November 2024
The company additional claims Meta categorized customers primarily based on delicate elements, like figuring out as North Korean defectors, following particular religions, or being a part of LGBTQ+ teams. Furthermore, Meta reportedly denied consumer requests to entry their very own private information and failed to guard the knowledge of about 10 South Korean customers, which was ultimately leaked by hackers.
As I discussed earlier, Meta’s fines over information violations are nothing new – and this newest one is not even the most important. Not too way back, the corporate was hit with a heftier $101.5 million effective for breaking Europe’s Common Information Safety Regulation (GDPR) guidelines by failing to retailer Fb and Instagram passwords securely. And final 12 months? Meta racked up a record-breaking $1.3 billion effective for violating EU information privateness legal guidelines.
If Meta needs to keep away from racking up fines everywhere in the globe (Australia needs to slam it with an enormous effective, too, though for the way it handles misinformation), possibly it is time it lastly rethinks the way it handles our private information – and stops utilizing it with out our consent.
