South Korea’s recently launched privacy watched has announced a $6.1 million for Facebook, Reuters reported. It said the social media giant shared millions of users’ data without their permission.
The country’s Personal Information Protection Commission, launched in August this year, said in a statement it fined Facebook after a probe found that the personal information of least 3.3 million of the 18 million Facebook users in Korea were provided to operators other than Facebook without their knowledge, from May 2012 to June 2018. When someone uses another operator’s service through Facebook’s log-in, the personal information of the user’s Facebook friends were provided to other operators without their consent, the commission said. The commission said it will refer Facebook Ireland Ltd, the recipient of the fine, to the country’s prosecution for a criminal investigation.
Check It Out: Facebook Hit With Fine by South Korean Privacy Watchdog For Sharing User Data Without Permission
Charlotte:
My only problem with this is that there aren’t enough zeroes behind that $6.1; after all, we’re talking about violating the personal information of 3.3M South Koreans. That’s not even $2 per offence. To a committed serial offender like FB, these are simply standard recurrent operating costs, and a rounding error on the quarterly ledger.
Maybe something will come of the criminal investigation of FB Ireland, Ltd; a sternly worded reprimand, perhaps?