Google, Meta slapped with $72M fine in South Korea over illegal personal data collection

Google and Meta have been fined by the South Korean government over the unauthorized collection of personal data. The two American tech giants were slapped with a combined penalty worth $72 million in total, or KRW100 billion.

The local regulators said that Google and Meta violated regulations in the country in connection with data collection. Officials said on Wednesday, Sept. 13, that the companies illegally piled up personal information of their respective users and used them to create customized advertisements, as per The Korea Herald.

The fine was revealed during a plenary session, and the Personal Information Protection Commission, which is working under the Prime Minister's office, made the decision to fine Google KRW69.2 billion while Meta had to pay KRW30.8 billion.

The decision was made based on the investigation that was carried out by the PIPC. The probe was about customized advertisement, and it has been going on since February this year. The organization was looking into all major online platforms and not just Google and Meta when the discovery emerged.

In the course of the probe, the commission found the tech firms to have been collecting personal data. They have been analyzing behavioral patterns of people while visiting various websites and applications online. This is clearly being done to get information so Google and Meta can create ads that are tailored for each user.

The problem is that the personal data were collected without any consent from users. They were also not informed about it, which made the situation an illegal act.

It was reported that the PIPC sent a corrective order to Google and Meta. The companies were told that they must notify their respective users about data collection and explain it to them clearly. This will allow users to make decisions on whether to allow the firms to collect and use their data for ads or other purposes.

The commission revealed that Google has a higher penalty because it has not notified its users since 2016. At any rate, the spokesman of Meta told The Korea Herald that the company does not agree with the decision and will fight even if it needs to bring the case to court.

Finally, Yonhap News Agency reported that the fines for Google and Meta are currently the highest amount that the commission ever imposed for the said breach of the personal information protection law in the country.