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Top court upholds Meta's $4.6M fine for user data leak

Published: 14 Mar. 2025, 13:24

LEE JAE-LIM
[email protected]

The logo of Meta is seen at the entrance of the company's temporary stand ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

The Supreme Court dismissed Meta’s appeal to overturn a 6.7 billion won ($4.6 million) fine imposed by Korea’s privacy regulator for leaking the personal data of over 3.3 million domestic users without consent.

In November 2020, Meta, the U.S. tech giant then known as Facebook, was found to have provided users’ personal information to third parties without their consent. As a result, the Korean regulator slapped it with a 6.7 billion won fine, along with corrective orders and a public disclosure of its violations.

The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) found that when users logged into other services through Facebook, not only their personal information but also that of their Facebook friends was shared with third-party service providers.

The data breach occurred between May 2012 and June 2018, with the PIPC confirming that the personal information of at least 3.3 million users was compromised.

The leaked data included users’ educational and career backgrounds, family and personal relationship status as well as interests.

Meta argued that the penalty was excessive and filed a suit against the regulator in March 2021, claiming that the data was shared with third parties based on users’ voluntary consent and that Facebook did not prompt them to provide their information.

However, the Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings from October 2023 and September 2024, reaffirming the regulator’s decision.

“With the suspension of enforcement lifted due to the lawsuit’s conclusion, we will urge Meta to comply with the corrective order and monitor its implementation,” the PIPC said.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]