Seoul— South Korea’s antitrust regulator has fined Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for allegedly violating the country’s consumer protection laws related to electronic commerce.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) imposed a fine of 6 million won (approximately $4,176) on the U.S.-based tech giant and ordered the company to implement corrective measures within 180 days to comply with the Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce.
According to the FTC, Meta failed to notify e-commerce sellers using its platforms of their legal obligations under the consumer protection act and did not encourage compliance. The commission also cited the company’s failure to provide a functioning dispute resolution system for consumers, verify the identities of sellers, and clearly outline its consumer protection responsibilities in its terms of service.
The FTC said these shortcomings compromised the safety and transparency of e-commerce transactions on Meta’s platforms.
This latest action follows a much larger fine imposed on Meta last November, when South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission ordered the company to pay 21.6 billion won (about $15.6 million) for unlawfully collecting sensitive personal data from nearly one million Facebook users without proper notice or consent.
According to the commission, Meta gathered information such as users’ religious beliefs, political opinions, marital status, and sexual orientation, and shared it with roughly 4,000 advertisers for targeted advertising—violating the country’s data protection laws. The company also failed to clearly disclose how such data was being used in its privacy policy and did not seek user consent or apply adequate safeguards.
Both regulatory bodies have emphasized the need for stronger consumer rights and data privacy protections on digital platforms, particularly as tech companies expand their role in e-commerce and targeted advertising. (Source: IANS)
