Republic of Korea: Seoul Administrative Court issued ruling upholding Personal Information Protection Commission’s fines against Google and Meta for data privacy violations

On 23 January 2025, the Seoul Administrative Court dismissed lawsuits filed by Google and Meta seeking to overturn fines and corrective orders imposed by South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC). In 2022, the PIPC fined Google KRW 69.2 billion and Meta KRW 30.8 billion (totalling KRW 100 billion) for collecting and using users’ behavioural data for targeted advertising without obtaining proper consent. Google and Meta argued that website or app operators, not platform providers, should obtain user consent for data collection. They also claimed to have secured consent through their privacy policies. However, the PIPC contended that both companies actively tracked and collected users’ online activities through their services and used the data for customised ads. Similar sanctions imposed in the EU and US bolstered the PIPC’s case.