Seoul, May 2
South Korea's antitrust regulator said on Friday it has decided to fine Meta Platforms, the operator of Facebook and Instagram, on charges of violating the country's law on consumer protection.
Meta Platforms was slapped with a 6 million-won ($4,176) fine and ordered to take necessary measures to align with the Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC).
The FTC said the U.S.-based company failed to fulfill consumer protection obligations under the law, reports news agency.
According to the FTC, Meta Platforms failed to inform e-commerce sellers of their obligations under the consumer protection act and encourage them to comply with those obligations.
The U.S. company is also accused of not operating a dispute settlement system for consumers, not establishing procedures to verify essential identification information of sellers and not specifying the platforms' consumer protection responsibilities in their terms of service.
The FTC said it ordered Meta to address the issues within 180 days to create a safer environment for e-commerce transactions on its platforms.
Last November, Meta was ordered to pay 21.6 billion won ($15.6 million) in fines for collecting sensitive data from users without notice and handing it over to advertisers.