[Unofficial translation provided by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

“Meta fined 21.6 billion Korean Won for breaching South Korea’s privacy law”, 6 November 2024

…Reuters reports that South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) has imposed a fine of 21.6 billion won ($15 million) on Meta for breaching the country’s data protection laws.

According to the report, Meta harvested sensitive information …from the profiles of around 980,000 users in South Korea. This data was then provided to approximately 4,000 advertisers, who used it for targeted marketing purposes.… Users were marked as supporters of certain religions, or identified as LGBTQ+, transgender, or even as defectors from North Korea…

...

A Meta spokesperson commented, "Once the final written decision is received, we will review it. We are committed to working closely with the Personal Information Protection Commission to ensure the privacy of our users in Korea is protected."