A government commission on Monday issued an administrative directive to Facebook, Inc. following recent incidents involving the U.S. company, including a massive breach of users' personal data through its social networking platform.
Under the directive, the Personal Information Protection Commission demanded Facebook to take appropriate measures to thoroughly offer users easy-to-understand explanations and obtain their consent.
The commission has been gathering information on the Facebook data breach, working with regulatory authorities overseas.
When it comes to Facebook's handling personal data, it is suspected that data of up to 87 million people were improperly handed over to Cambridge Analytica, the data analysis company that served as an election consultant for Donald Trump's team during the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign.
It has also been found that in September hackers accessed personal data of about 29 million people.
In the wake of the series of personal information data breaches, the commission called for Facebook to draw up measures for preventing a recurrence.
Other instructions included thorough surveillance of apps developed by third parties on the company's service platform that allowed the breaches.
When a Facebook user browses a website with a "like" button, data such as the accessed website are automatically sent to Facebook even if the user does not press the button. Regarding this as problematic as well, the commission urged Facebook to give users thorough explanations.
The administrative directive stipulated that Facebook monitor the activities of apps developed by third parties. It also stated that the company should notify users, investigate the causes of the incidents and draw up measures for preventing a recurrence, as well as produce reports to the commission.
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