SEOUL – South Korea fined Facebook’s parent company Meta more than 21.6 billion won (S$20.6 million) for illegally collecting sensitive information from nearly 1 million users. people without their consent and sharing it with advertisers, the country’s data watchdog announced on November 5.

The company, which also owns Instagram, broke laws prohibiting the use of information about people’s political opinions, religious beliefs and sex lives unless the individual gives explicit consent, the Commission added. Seoul Personal Information Protection.

It adds that the tech giant collected sensitive information from around 980,000 domestic users in South Korea through their Facebook profiles.

This included details about their religious beliefs and whether they were in a same-sex relationship.

The watchdog said it confirmed that this information was provided to advertisers by Meta, and that around 4,000 advertisers were using it.

Meta “analyzed user behavior data, including page likes and clicked ads on Facebook”, to create and implement targeted ads related to “sensitive themes” such as transgender issues, homosexuality and North Korean defectors, officials said.

The commission announced on November 5 that it had decided to impose a fine of 21.6 billion won on Meta.

It added that it “also ordered the company to establish legal bases for the processing of sensitive information, implement security measures and respond diligently to users’ requests for access to their data personal”.

The decision is “significant in ensuring that foreign operators providing global services must comply with the obligations set out in (South Korea’s) Protection Law regarding the handling of sensitive information.” AFP