Facebook's Meta fined in Australia for misleading consumers


A federal judge on Wednesday found the two subsidiaries engaged in behaviour liable to mislead the public by failing to adequately disclose what users' data would be used for, including for Meta's commercial purposes. — Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)

SYDNEY: Facebook's parent company Meta was fined 20mil Australian dollars (RM61.6mil) for misleading consumers, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said on Wednesday.

A federal court ordered Meta subsidiaries Facebook Israel and Onavo Inc to each pay US$10mil (RM45.5mil) to Australia "for engaging in conduct liable to mislead in breach of the Australian Consumer Law," said the consumer watchdog, which brought the action.

Onavo Protect was a free mobile app promoted in Google and Apple app store listings as a product that would keep users' data safe by providing a virtual private network (VPN) service.

"In fact, Onavo and Facebook Israel shared the personal activity data from users collected by the app in anonymised and aggregated form with parent company Meta (then known as Facebook Inc) for commercial benefit," the ACCC said in a press release.

According to the ACCC, the app was installed more than 270,000 times by Australian users between February 2016 and October 2017.

A federal judge on Wednesday found the two subsidiaries engaged in behaviour liable to mislead the public by failing to adequately disclose what users' data would be used for, including for Meta's commercial purposes.

Following the judgement, a Meta spokesperson told Australian media that the company maintained that Onavo Protect had properly functioned as a security tool.

"There was no allegation by the ACCC that the app did not function properly as an online security tool," Meta said in a statement published by Australian public broadcaster ABC.

"Protecting the privacy and security of people's data is fundamental to how Meta's business works. Over the last several years, we have built tools to give people more transparency and control over how their data is used, and we design every new product and feature with privacy in mind." – dpa

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!
   

Next In Tech News

The 'morphing' wheel from South Korea that may transform lives and robots
Indonesia's Indosat, GoTo launch local-language AI model
Bob Lee’s accused killer says tech executive ‘went crazy on me’
A more colourful image of space will help us unravel the universe’s mysteries
This robot learned to clean a sink by imitating humans
Think twice before sharing photos of your kids online, experts say
UK consumer group takes on Apple over iCloud service
FBI raids Polymarket CEO's home, seizing phone, electronics
Major Apple supplier Foxconn expected to report strong Q3 results on AI boom
Visa says EU regulator probing fees charged to retailers

Others Also Read