SEUL: South Korea has penalised Google and Meta more than $71 million for collecting users’ personal information without their agreement to create personalised advertisements. This is the largest data protection fine ever levied in the nation.
According to the Personal Information Protection Commission, investigations into the two US IT behemoths revealed that they had been “gathering and analysing” information on their users and keeping tabs on how they were using their websites and applications.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 behaviour.
For abusing its dominance in the mobile operating system and app markets last year, South Korea fined Google nearly $180 million, claiming it was undermining market competition.
