[THE INVSETOR] South Korea’s telecom and media watchdog has fined Woowa Bros, the operator of mobile food delivery app Baedal Minjok, for mismanaging user data.

The Korea Communications Commission said on Aug. 11 that it levied a 15-million-won (US$13,660) fine on the company, for failing to encrypt user data on its system for the app.


The regulator also imposed a fine of 10 million won to 15 million won on nine companies for failing to implement proper protection measures for user data.

The punishment came after the food delivery app company was penalized by the Fair Trade Commission for manipulating online reviews on restaurants.

Woori Homeshopping, operator of the Lotte Homeshopping TV channel, was also fined 200 million won for careless management of user data and selling it to third parties.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)