South Korea fines Google, Meta $72 million for privacy violations

South Korea’s privacy protection regulator on Wednesday levied millions of dollars in fines on Alphabet’s Google LLC and Facebook operator Meta Platforms Inc. for privacy law violations.

The Personal Information Protection Commission said in a statement that it fined Google 69.2 billion won ($50 million) and Meta 30.8 billion won ($22 million), alongside a corrective order for both.

The commission said the two companies did not clearly inform service users and obtain prior consent when collecting and analyzing behavioral information to infer their interests or use them for customized advertisements.

The fines mark the highest amounts ever imposed by the commission for violations of Korea’s personal information protection law.

The privacy panel, under the Prime Minister's Office, said its investigation that began in February last year showed the two companies collected users’ personal behavioral information without prior permission and used the information in personalized advertising.

Such practices infringe upon users’ privacy, the commission said.

The penalty comes after Korea’s Fair Trade Commission last year slapped a fine of 207.4 billion won on Google after the Big Tech firm was found to have forced Samsung Electronics Co. and other smartphone manufacturers to use its operating system (OS).

In August of last year, the Personal Information Protection Commission also levied a combined 6.5 billion won in fines on Facebook and Netflix for collecting personal information without users’ prior consent.

Write to So-Hyeon Kim at alpha@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.