Facebook would be in violation of the Personal Information Protection Act (個人資料保護法) if it is found to have illegally leaked private user information to third parties, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
The social network’s handling of its users’ personal data came under scrutiny after a former employee of UK-based data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica told the Guardian that the firm obtained profiles of 50 million Facebook users and used them to develop campaign messages targeting US voters ahead of the 2016 US presidential election.
The news has sparked concern about the security of Taiwanese Facebook users’ personal data, with some questioning whether their personal information was used without their knowledge.
The platform has approximately 13 million active users in Taiwan.
Facebook is registered as an information service provider in Taiwan and is overseen by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, NCC spokesperson Weng Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
The ministry regulates firms involved in data processing, network management and operation of Internet portals, he said.
The act stipulates that the rights and interests of individuals should be respected when collecting, processing or using personal information, and the information should be handled in good faith.
Data should not be used for purposes beyond the original reason for collection and their use should be reasonable and fair, it says.
It also stipulates that private entities are liable to pay compensation for damage caused by the illegal collection, processing and use of personal information, or other infringements on the rights of individuals in violation of the act.
Total compensation should not exceed NT$200 million (US$6.86 million) if multiple parties are affected by the same infringement, the act stipulates.
In other developments, the commission last year fined broadcast media in 147 cases, 87 of which involved TV stations and 60 of which involved radio stations.
Total fines last year topped NT$13.72 million, the commission said.
The top three reasons for penalties were failure to maintain a clear separation between programs and advertisements (NT$3.87 million), exceeding the time limit set for advertisements (NT$3.4 million) and failure to meet the minimum quota for programs produced in Taiwan at certain time slots (NT$2.6 million).
Meanwhile, the commission said it received 1,704 complaints over broadcast content last year, down from 4,894 complaints in 2016.
Nearly 90 percent of last year’s complaints were about TV programs, with the majority of them about news and regular programming, the commission said, adding that 23 percent of complaints were about untrue and unfair content, making it the largest category.
The number of complaints last year was the lowest since 2013.
Asked about the dramatic decrease between 2016 and last year, the commission said that complaints over broadcast contents soared in 2016 due to an advertisement by the Happiness of the Next Generation Alliance, a Christian group opposed to same-sex marriage.
The commission received 2,660 complaints in 2016 about factually inaccurate content in the group’s advertisements.
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