South Korea’s privacy watchdog has imposed a fine of 10.3 billion won ($7 million) on TikTok for unlawfully gathering and utilizing users’ behavioral data to customize ads. The Personal Information Protection Commission penalized TikTok Pte. Ltd., the Singapore-based operator of the social media platform in South Korea, for breaching personal information regulations. TikTok acquired behavioral data from 9.45 million South Korean users through tools on third-party platforms for tailored advertising.
The commission highlighted that TikTok failed to adequately inform users about these practices. Additionally, the watchdog directed corrective actions against two subsidiaries of Apple Inc., fining them a total of 252 million won for privacy breaches. This included unauthorized collection of voice recordings and transcripts from users of Apple’s Siri voice assistant without consent. Apple had been gathering voice recordings and text transcripts without permission until August 2019, and although it later sought consent for voice recordings, it neglected to do so for transcripts.
In a separate incident, Coupang Corp., an e-commerce firm, faced a historic fine of 624.7 billion won ($410 million) for privacy infractions, including a significant data breach affecting over 37 million users. The Personal Information Protection Commission decided to levy a 423.6 billion-won penalty for the data breach and an additional 201.1 billion-won fine for unauthorized collection of online user activity records and other violations. This marked the largest fine ever imposed by the regulator on a single company, as stated by the commission.
“The investigation revealed that this breach occurred not due to sophisticated hacking but because of Coupang’s inadequate security protocols,” mentioned Song Kyung-hee, the chief of the watchdog. Coupang expressed remorse over the substantial fine and stated intentions to address the situation through legal means.
