Google and Meta have been fined $71 million ($49.7 million and $22.1 million) for violating South Korean data protection laws.
This is the biggest data protection fine ever levied in the country.
The fines were imposed by the country’s Personal Information Protection Commission.
South Korea has fined Google and Meta a total of more than $71 million for collecting users’ personal information without their knowledge to serve customized ads, according to regulators.
This is the largest data protection fine ever imposed in the country.
According to the Personal Information Protection Commission, investigations into two USITs revealed that they were “collecting and analyzing” information about their users and monitoring how they accessed their websites and How are the applications being used?
It said that neither Google nor Meta had clearly disclosed or pre-contracted the process to South Korean users.
Instead, it claimed the data was “used to gauge user interests or to tailor online advertising”.
Google and Meta each received fines of 69.2 billion won ($49.7 million) and 30.8 billion won ($22.1 million), respectively.
The commission declared in a statement that the fine was “the greatest for a violation of the Personal Information Protection Act.”
Regulators claimed that the majority of South Korean users — 82% for Google and 98% for Meta — had unintentionally permitted companies to collect information about their internet behavior.
The statement stated that “it may be said that the probability and risk of infringing on users’ rights are significant.”
For abusing its control in the mobile operating system and app marketplaces last year, South Korea fined Google about $180 million, claiming it was undermining market competition.
Massive US technology giants are frequently criticized for edging away competitors to dominate markets, and numerous governments throughout the world are working to curb them in.
The European Union has targeted Apple and Microsoft in addition to punishing Google with historically high antitrust fines.
