Meta fined nearly $15M by South Korea over user data collection – report

South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission has imposed penalties of 21.62B won (about $15.67M) on Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) after finding that the Facebook owner allegedly collected sensitive user data and provided it to advertisers without a legal basis, Reuters reported.

The social media company gathered data from around 980,000 Facebook users in South Korea on topics including their religion, political views and sexuality while failing to seek agreement from users, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday, according to the report.

The data also included, users being categorized as being North Korean defectors, following a particular religion or identifying as a transgender or gay person, the agency noted.

The information was then used by about 4,000 advertisers, the report added.

“Specifically, it has been found that (Meta) analyzed user behavior data such as pages they liked and advertisements they clicked on Facebook and created and managed advertising themes related to sensitive information,” said the agency.

In addition, the company unfairly declined a request by users to access personal information and could not prevent data of around 10 South Koreans from being leaked by hackers, the report added, citing the commission.

Meta has been facing criticism related to user data and use of its social media platforms.

Last week, it was reported that the Collective Defense Institute filed two lawsuits demanding 3 billion reais ($525.27M) from the Brazilian units of Meta, TikTok and Kwai for allegedly failing to develop measures to prevent indiscriminate use of the social media platforms by minors.