South Korea fines Google and Meta for collecting personal information without user consent

Korean Personal Information Protection Commission said on Wednesday that South Korea had imposed charges against Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms for violating privacy laws.

The committee said in a statement that it fined Google 69.2 billion won (about 347 million yuan) and Meta 308 for collecting personal information without user consent and using it for online customized advertisements and other violations of the Personal Information Protection Law. A fine of 100 million won (about 155 million yuan).

Both companies have expressed firm opposition to the decision, saying that "we have always done our best to protect personal information."

The committee said Google and Meta did not explicitly inform service users and obtain prior consent when collecting and analyzing users' behavioral information to infer their interests or use it to tailor advertisements.