Child Information Unknown to Parents, Does Meta Know?

Facebook and Instagram Accounts
Personal Data Collection and Consent Required
Concerns Raised... Government-Related Investigation

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Meta, the operator of Facebook and Instagram, is facing growing controversy for forcing domestic users to provide personal information. There are concerns that sensitive online privacy information of children could be used for marketing purposes without their parents' knowledge during this process.

According to the IT industry on the 25th, Meta will suspend accounts if users do not give mandatory consent to all items in the personal information collection and consent procedure by the 8th of next month. The personal information Meta requires includes basic information such as friend lists, as well as the user's smartphone model, location information, visited websites, and cookie data. All of these are for 'personalized advertising.'

According to the Korea Information Society Development Institute, Facebook is the most used social network service (SNS) among teenagers in Korea (51.3%). The second most preferred SNS is Instagram. Although Meta blocks children and adolescents under 14 from signing up, many teenagers use their parents' accounts, resulting in a high proportion of underage users among all subscribers. Therefore, concerns are increasing that Meta's mandatory consent for providing personal information will lead to the use of minors' private information for marketing.

In 2019, YouTube was fined approximately 205 billion KRW by U.S. authorities for tracking children's YouTube viewing history and providing personalized ads without parental consent. This was because the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) prohibits collecting children's online privacy information without parental approval. Accordingly, YouTube completely stopped child-targeted advertising in 2020 in compliance with local laws, aiming to block the use of children's personal information in ads even when using parents' accounts.

In Korea, only prior consent from users is required when producing personalized ads. Applying the same terms and conditions to teenage users aged 14 and above is also problematic. Meta forces users to provide various personal information, but due to the extensive length of the terms, it is difficult for teenage users to fully understand and agree to the content.

In response to these controversies, the government has launched an investigation related to Meta. The Personal Information Protection Commission stated, "We are focusing on reviewing whether the personal information collected by Meta is absolutely necessary for providing the service."