Google caught up in million dollar fine over data privacy violations in South Korea

Google is contesting a 69.2 billion won ($51.7 million) fine imposed by South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) over alleged violations of the Personal Information Protection Act.

The tech giant is facing legal action for its use of pre-selected consent options in its account sign-up process, which the commission claims misleads users into agreeing to data collection for targeted advertising.

During the sixth court hearing on August 29 at the Seoul Administrative Court, both Google and PIPC demonstrated how users are prompted to manage their privacy preferences during registration.

At the core of the dispute is the "More Options" feature, which appears under the "Privacy and Terms" section and requires users to actively opt out of sharing behavioral data—such as browsing and search histories—used for personalized ads.

PIPC argues that this method undermines informed consent, as users must manually deselect pre-checked options to opt out, a practice the commission claims breaches South Korea’s data protection laws.

They also pointed out that Google’s consent mechanism differs from that in Europe, where data-sharing is not pre-selected.

Google, however, defended its practices, arguing that it followed legal procedures and that the responsibility for securing user consent lies with the operators of websites or apps utilizing Google’s data collection tools.

The company cited court precedents supporting the validity of consent if users are informed of key terms, adding that the "More Options" feature enhances users’ ability to control their data by allowing them to revoke consent during registration, rather than later.

The case continues as Google seeks to overturn the hefty penalty.