Korea Fines TikTok and Apple for Data Use

South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission fined TikTok and Apple affiliates a combined 10.6 billion won for collecting and using users’ behavioral data without proper consent, including overseas data transfers and inadequate user notice. TikTok was hit with about 10.36 billion won in penalties and required to disclose and correct its practices after it used TikTok Pixels to gather clicks, searches, and other activity from about 9.45 million Korean users for targeted advertising. The commission found that consent was effectively forced by embedding data collection in mandatory registration consent, and that transfers to overseas affiliates were not sufficiently disclosed. Apple subsidiaries were fined roughly 252 million won for collecting voice recordings and transcripts through Siri without proper consent, with corrective actions imposed. The regulator emphasized the seriousness of using collected data for advertising and service improvement, noting recent large fines in the sector and underscoring stricter enforcement of consent and notice requirements. The case highlights ongoing tensions between global tech platforms and South Korea’s privacy regime over data collection, user notice, and cross-border data transfers.