TikTok fined Rp126.5 billion in South Korea over data violations

South Korea’s personal data protection authority announced on Thursday (23/7) that it has imposed a fine of 10.3 billion won, or approximately Rp126.5 billion, on TikTok for illegally collecting and using user behavioural data from third-party services to personalise advertisements. The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) stated that the fine was imposed on Singapore-based TikTok Pte. Ltd., which operates the TikTok service in South Korea, for violating the country’s personal information protection laws. TikTok was found to have collected behavioural data from 9.45 million users in South Korea through tracking devices distributed to third-party websites and applications. The commission stated that TikTok did not provide adequate notice to users regarding these practices. Separately, the authority also ordered corrective actions against two subsidiaries of Apple Inc. and imposed combined fines totalling 252 million won, or approximately Rp3.1 billion, for personal data protection violations. The commission stated that Apple collected Siri users’ voice recordings along with their text transcripts without permission until August 2019. Although the company began requesting user consent for voice recordings from October 2019, the authority stated that Apple had not sought user consent for the collection of the transcripts.