Google Faces Criminal Charges in Korea Over Leaked Victim Data

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in Korea is considering filing criminal charges against Google after personal information of victims who requested removal of illegally filmed content was leaked to a third-party website.

The controversy began when the victims' personal data was found on an overseas research project site that collaborates with Google. The data was deleted from the website at the request of the Gender Ministry and Korea Communications Standards Commission.

Google apologized to the victims, stating that its principle is not to share people's personal information with the site. It also claimed that it had asked the website operator to delete the information as soon as the matter was brought to its attention.