Google and Meta's 'Personalized Ads' to be Examined at National Audit

At the National Assembly Solution Forum
Emphasis on the Need for Prohibitive Regulations
Civil Groups "Corporate Responsibility Must Increase"
Personal Information Protection Commission "Will Cooperate with the National Assembly"
Google and Meta Executives as Witnesses

[Asia Economy reporters Minyoung Cha and Seungjin Lee] As Google and Meta face fines worth around 100 billion won from the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) for ‘personalized ads’ without user consent, both ruling and opposition parties have decided to scrutinize this issue during the National Assembly audit.

"Need for Improvement in Personalized Ads"

According to the National Assembly on the 23rd, a forum titled ‘Issues and Solutions on Privacy Invasion by Personalized Ads’ was held yesterday, led by Yoon Young-duk, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and the opposition’s Political Affairs Committee members. The forum was organized to explore the problems of personalized ads and policy alternatives following the PIPC’s corrective orders and fines of about 100 billion won imposed on Google and Meta for collecting personal information without user consent.

Lee Eun-woo, a lawyer at the law firm Jihyang who presented at the forum, shared cases from the United States and Europe and emphasized the need for regulations banning personalized ads by platform companies. He stated, "The European Union (EU) has enacted legislation through the Digital Services Act (DSA) that includes provisions such as advertiser exposure in personalized ads, the process of personalized ad exposure, and prohibition of collecting personal information from minors," urging active measures from the political sphere.

Civil society groups also pointed out the inadequacy of current privacy protection laws and called for increased corporate accountability. Jang Yeo-kyung, executive director of the Information Rights Research Institute, said, "A system should be established to allow users to choose personalized ads, and sanctions are necessary against companies that collect and use personal information extensively."

The PIPC, which imposed fines on Google and Meta, emphasized that this action is not the end. Kim Jik-dong, head of the New Technology Personal Information Division at PIPC, said, "It is clear that Google and Meta used personal information, and the investigation lasted over a year," adding, "We are also investigating Facebook’s recent forced consent to its privacy policy." He also stated, "If legislation is necessary, we will cooperate with the National Assembly."

Google and Meta Representatives Summoned to National Assembly Audit

At the upcoming National Assembly Political Affairs Committee audit next month, executives from Google and Meta are expected to be summoned as witnesses. The People Power Party has announced plans to call Nancy Mayblewalker, CEO of Google Korea, and Kim Jin-ah, CEO of Facebook Korea, as witnesses, while opposition parties have also expressed intentions to closely examine issues related to Google and Meta.

The Political Affairs Committee plans to hold a plenary session on the 27th to vote on the witness attendance request. If Google and Meta executives are finally selected as witnesses, they are expected to appear at the PIPC audit on either the 18th or 21st of next month.

The Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee also plans to summon executives from big tech companies such as Google and Netflix as witnesses. In addition to CEO Nancy, unusually, Gautam Anand, Vice President of YouTube Asia-Pacific, has been directly nominated. Recently, Anand posted on Google’s official blog urging people to sign a petition opposing ongoing legislation by OpenNet, engaging in a power struggle with the National Assembly.

Google is also under fact-finding investigation by the Korea Communications Commission for allegedly violating the ‘In-App Payment Forced Ban Act.’ This is due to evidence that it restricted updates to KakaoTalk, which guided the web payment outlink method. Additionally, Reginald Sean Thompson, CEO of Netflix Services Korea, is reportedly on the witness request list.

However, in the National Assembly’s Science and ICT Committee, the ruling and opposition parties have yet to narrow their differences over the adoption of the audit plan, making agreement on witnesses difficult. In particular, the Democratic Party insists on conducting the audit over two days, October 4-5, targeting the Ministry of Science and ICT, while the People Power Party strongly opposes this plan.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.