Facebook Gets $6.1M Fine From Korean Watchdog For Personal Info Misuse

Facebook has been fined by Korea’s personal information agency 6.7 billion won ($6.06 million) for providing users’ personal information to other business operators without their consent.

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Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) said that following the findings of a probe, it is also seeking criminal charges on the grounds that Facebook (FB) violated the country’s personal information law. The PIPC, which was launched in August this year, disclosed that the probe showed that the personal information of at least 3.3 million of the 18 million Facebook users in Korea was shared with business operators other than Facebook without their consent, between 2012 to 2018.

“We have cooperating as much as possible throughout the investigation process, we regret that the Personal Information Protection Commission has sought a criminal investigation,” a Seoul-based Facebook spokeswoman told Reuters in a statement, declining further comment as Facebook hasn’t yet fully reviewed the details of the decision.

According to the PIPC, Facebook shared information about people’s names, addresses, dates of birth, work experience, hometowns and relationship statuses with other companies when they logged in with their account.

Meanwhile, shares of Facebook have surged 35% this year, with the average analyst price target of $323.18 indicating the stock could advance another 18% in the coming 12 months.

Tigress Financial analyst Ivan Feinseth believes “significant upside exists from current levels” and continues to recommend buying the shares.

“FB continues to benefit from ongoing digital advertising growth, increasing users, and growing user engagement through its ongoing innovation and platform expansion into ecommerce and more interactive application capabilities,” Feinseth wrote in a note to investors. “FB has a significant upside driven by the ongoing potential to monetize many of its critical applications and technologies, including Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Oculus.”

Overall, Wall Street analysts have a firmly bullish call on Facebook. The stock scores 33 Buy ratings versus 2 Hold ratings, which add up to a Strong Buy consensus. (See Facebook stock analysis on TipRanks).