Facebook Fined Over Unfair Business Practices

South Korea's communications watchdog on Wednesday slapped a fine of 396 million won (US$370,000) on US social networking giant Facebook Inc. for unfair business practices.

SEOUL, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Mar, 2018 ) :South Korea's communications watchdog on Wednesday slapped a fine of 396 million won (US$370,000) on US social networking giant Facebook Inc.

for unfair business practices. Korea Communications Commission (KCC) also advised that Facebook should share the cost of maintaining the speed of its data traffic services with South Korea's telecommunications providers.

The dispute first began when subscribers of local telecommunication providers SK Broadband and LG Uplus began experiencing a slowdown in their Facebook connections. The telecommunications providers argued that Facebook should share the cost of maintaining the heavy data traffic generated by its social networking operations.

Facebook, however, refused to pay for the traffic it generated, opting only to pay KT Corp. for the use of its cache server. An investigation by the KCC showed that Facebook unilaterally changed connection routes of SK Telecom, SK Broadband, and LG Uplus to slow the connections of users accessing Facebook on SK Broadband and LG Uplus networks.

"This incident is a case in which the global company infringed upon the benefits of local users by unilaterally changing connection routes without discussing with local telecommunications providers," Lee Hyo-seong, the chairman of the KCC, was quoted by the commission as saying.

The decision comes 10 months after the KCC looked into the matter. Facebook was obliged to make public that it has been ordered to make changes, and even to alter its terms of service with users.

The company must take concrete steps to ensure that such violations do not occur again. On the fines levied and orders issued by the state regulator, Facebook expressed its regrets and added that it will continue to provide the best service for users and work with the local telecom companies.