South Korea fines Google and Meta for privacy violations

South Korea has fined tech giants Google and Meta more than $71 million collectively for gathering users’ personal information without consent for tailored ads. This is the country’s highest-ever data protection fine.

The Personal Information Protection Commission said investigations into the two companies found they had been “collecting and analysing” data on their users, and monitoring their use of websites and applications

Privacy violations

It said the data was used to “infer the users’ interests or used for customised online advertisements”, adding that neither Google nor Meta had clearly informed South Korean users of this practice or obtained their consent in advance.

ALSO READ: Meta launches ‘Creators of Tomorrow’ campaign celebrating emerging talents

Google was fined 69.2 billion won ($49.7 million) and Meta 30.8 billion won ($22.1 million).

“It is the largest fine for the violation of the Personal Information Protection Act,” the commission said in a statement.

Regulators said the majority of the users in South Korea – 82% for Google and 98% for Meta – had unknowingly allowed them to collect data on their online use.

“It can be said that the possibility and the risk of infringement of the rights of the users are high,” the statement said.

Googles biggest setback

Meanwhile, Google also suffered one of its biggest setbacks on Wednesday, when a top European court fined it 4.125 billion euros ($4.13 billion) for using its Android mobile operating system to thwart rivals, offering a precedent for other regulators to ratchet up pressure.

The unit of US tech giant Alphabet had challenged an earlier ruling, but the decision was broadly upheld by the Europe’s second-highest court.

This is the second court defeat for Google which lost its challenge to a 2.42 billion euro ($2.42 billion) fine last year, the first of a trio of cases.

“The General Court largely confirms the Commission’s decision that Google imposed unlawful restrictions on manufacturers of Android mobile devices and mobile network operators in order to consolidate the dominant position of its search engine,” the court said.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Apple iOS 16 – Here’s what’s new and how to get it