Facebook Fined for Sharing Users’ Personal Data without Consent

A South Korean agency fines Facebook for protecting personal information on Wednesday Inc 6.7 billion won ($6.06 million). The company also sought a criminal investigation for providing users’ personal data to other operators without consent.

The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) states that Facebook dishonoured the country’s information law and order by providing personal information of at least 3.3 million of the country’s local users from May 2012 to June 2018 to other company operators without their consent.

Sharing Users’ Personal Data is Unlawful

As per the news officials report, it is marked as the commission’s first punishment against Facebook since it was launched in August this year.

According to the commission, when the users of Facebook logged into other company’s services using their accounts, the personal data and information of their Facebook friends were also shared to the service providers without their permission.

As per the officials, the exact amount of the shared data is not confirmed and still unclear as Facebook did not provide relevant documentation regarding the case.

The personal data shared with the companies include user’s names, their addresses, date of birth, work experience, relationship statuses and hometown.

The commission said it would refer to the Facebook Ireland Ltd, the participant of the fine will be directed to the country’s prosecution for a criminal investigation as it is considered to be a criminal act.

“We have cooperated as much as possible throughout the investigation process, we regret that the Personal Information Protection Commission has sought a criminal investigation,” a spokeswoman said in a statement.

The commission also charged Facebook with a separate penalty of 66 million won for providing the false documentation.

“We cooperated with the investigation in its entirety,” Facebook said in a statement. “We have yet to review PIPC’s measure closely.”

In 2018, the Korea Communications Commission, South Korea’s telecommunications regulator started investigations against Facebook before handling it to the commission.

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