Meta Slapped with Record 21.6 Billion Won Fine for Leaking Sensitive User Data to Advertisers Nationwide

Meta, which collected sensitive information such as religion and political views of domestic Facebook members and passed it on to advertisers, was fined 21.6 billion won.

The Personal Information Protection Committee held a general meeting and decided to impose a fine of 21.62 billion won on Meta Platform, a Facebook operating company, for violating the Personal Information Protection Act.

As a result of the investigation, it was confirmed that Meta collected sensitive information, such as religious views, political views, and same-sex marriage status, of about 980,000 domestic members through their past Facebook profiles, and passed this on to advertisers.

Through this, it was found that about 4,000 advertisers analyzed the usage patterns of pages and advertisements clicked by members and then created and operated advertisements on topics such as specific religions, homosexuality, and North Korean defectors.

In addition, Meta did not take action to delete or block websites whose services were interrupted or were not managed, and even when a hacker submitted a fake ID and requested a password reset for another person’s account, it approved it without sufficient procedures, resulting in the personal information of 10 Korean users. It appears to have been leaked.

The Personal Information Protection Committee requested Meta to establish a legal basis and take measures to ensure safety when processing sensitive information, and issued a corrective order to faithfully respond to users’ requests to view personal information.

YTN Cha Jeong-yoon (jycha@ytn.co.kr)

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