[Reporter’s Notebook] Apple Pay’s Arrogance Crosses the Line... “Regulators’ Indifference Is Also a Problem”

Apple Called Before the Personal Information Protection Commission, Maintains Ignorance and Shifts Blame
"We Didn't Know" "Responsibility Lies with KakaoPay and Alipay"
Criticism Mounts Over Financial Authorities' "Hands-Off" Approach Enabling Apple's Arrogance
Calls Grow for Stronger Legal Action and Regulation

"Many of the responsible personnel have left the company, so we couldn't find the emails or any supporting documents." "We will try requesting from Apple headquarters." "We don't know exactly." "Responsibility for providing risk information such as customer credit scores (NSF) lies with KakaoPay or Alipay."

These are the responses Apple gave to the Personal Information Protection Commission's inquiries after unlawfully transferring the personal data of 40 million Korean users to China's Alipay. The Commission released the minutes of the plenary meetings held on the 8th and 22nd of last month on the 25th. Throughout the 170-page transcript, Apple consistently shows ignorance and blame-shifting regarding the leakage of Korean customers' personal credit information. The answers are mechanical and the excuses absurd. The arrogance is shocking for a company fined 2.405 billion KRW in penalties and 2.2 million KRW in fines for transferring credit information to Alipay without domestic customer consent. Moreover, Apple did not send Apple Korea, its Korean subsidiary, but instead sent a law firm representative acting as legal counsel to appear before the Commission.

This rude attitude from Apple is not new. When issues arose regarding after-sales service (AS) policies and App Store commissions, Apple consistently showed discriminatory behavior toward Korean consumers. While strictly adhering to consumer protection regulations in the US and Europe when problems occurred, Apple was quick to evade responsibility in Korea.

There are many criticisms that the financial authorities’ "hands-off" approach has encouraged Apple's arrogance. This is a matter of fairness. Domestic companies must strictly comply with personal information protection guidelines under regulations, but foreign companies like Apple evade these and adopt uncooperative attitudes during investigations. Especially in this case, sharing domestic users' personal information with foreign companies without prior notice is a serious issue, yet the lack of appropriate sanctions under Korean law has provided them an escape route.

A senior IT industry official said, "Shouldn't the financial authorities actively regulate overseas financial companies that pose risks of personal information leakage?" and criticized, "The Financial Services Commission chairman’s stance of 'We will observe whether card companies reduce consumer benefits after Apple Pay introduction' is too passive." There is suspicion that the passive attitude from two years ago, when approval was given for Hyundai Card’s Apple Pay introduction without thorough scrutiny, still persists.

As a global company, Apple must demonstrate at least a minimum level of responsibility and trust. Fair standards must be applied in all markets. The first step for global companies operating in the Korean market is to show respect for Korean customers. Additionally, financial authorities must strengthen regulations on foreign companies to ensure fairness with domestic companies. Regulations and enforcement measures must be enhanced so that Apple can no longer deceive Korean consumers with rude behavior.