[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Kakao has codified the 'prohibition of sexual exploitation acts and sexual crimes against children and adolescents.' This appears to be a preemptive response ahead of the enforcement of the amendments to the Telecommunications Business Act and the Information and Communications Network Act, commonly referred to as the 'Nth Room Prevention Law.' It is the first among major domestic internet services.
On the 26th, Kakao established new provisions in its operating policy prohibiting acts of sexual exploitation of others and related to the protection of children and adolescents. The applicable services include all of Kakao's services such as KakaoTalk and the portal Daum, effective from July 2.
Kakao explicitly prohibits acts such as providing content like videos or images containing sexual exploitation of others, actively expressing intent to use such content, threatening, luring, conspiring, or encouraging others for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
In particular, a 'zero-tolerance principle' is applied to sexual crimes against children and adolescents.
Kakao stated, "Regardless of the degree of accumulation of violations, the strongest sanctions will be applied to the relevant account and service use, and if necessary, active measures will be taken in connection with judicial responses by investigative agencies."
This includes acts such as producing, providing, advertising, or introducing child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials, possessing or using such materials knowing they are child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials, conspiring or depicting sexual crimes against children and adolescents, and grooming.
Additionally, 'sexual objectification of children and adolescents' and 'other acts promoting sexual crimes against children and adolescents' are explicitly listed as prohibited acts.
Kakao emphasized, "We will do our best to prevent sexual crimes against children and adolescents through various technologies and policies."
Meanwhile, the amendments to the Telecommunications Business Act and the Information and Communications Network Act, passed by the National Assembly last month, primarily impose an obligation on internet operators to delete digital sexual crime materials. Once the amendments are enforced, internet operators such as Naver and Kakao must take measures to delete and prevent the distribution of digital sexual crime materials and appoint a person responsible for preventing the distribution of such materials. Failure to comply with these prevention measures may result in criminal penalties for the operators.
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