Apple Faces $3.2M Fine in South Korea for Unauthorized Data Use and NSF Score Creation

Summary

The South Korean government fined Apple approximately $3.2 million for using illegally obtained data to predict when users couldn't pay for App Store purchases. The fine, totaling 4.65 billion won, was levied in January 2025. During a meeting with the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) on February 25, Apple representatives were unresponsive and vague about the extent of the data misuse and their practices in other countries.

The incident involved data collected by Kakao Pay and sent to Alipay between April and July 2018, affecting around 40 million users. The data was used to create a Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) score, which determined if users had enough funds for bundled payments. Apple did not disclose its trustee relationship with Alipay or the collection of user data, violating South Korea's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).

Kakao Pay was fined 6 billion won and ordered to align its practices with PIPA, while Alipay was instructed to destroy the illegal data model.