KCSC Requests Correction of Discriminatory and Derogatory Hate Posts on 'Ilbe'
YouTube Also Sees Increase in Correction Measures Cases
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Seul-gi] The far-right internet community 'Ilgan Best Storage (Ilbe)' has been identified as the site with the most online discriminatory and derogatory hate speech posts over the past five years.
According to data submitted by the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) to Kim Sang-hee, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, among the 7,714 cases for which corrective action was requested by the KCSC from 2016 to August this year, Ilbe accounted for 2,870 cases, the highest number of violations.
Following Ilbe were DC Inside with 2,757 cases, Womad with 848 cases, Kakao with 226 cases, Nate with 217 cases, YouTube with 166 cases, and Naver with 132 cases.
According to the KCSC, numerous posts on Ilbe last year and this year contained discriminatory and derogatory content related to gender, region, and foreigners, such as 'Characteristics of Korean women,' 'I will tell you the true meaning of Samilhan,' 'Never marry ○○○,' and 'Joseonjok ○○○s.'
Earlier, on the 15th of last month, two Ilbe users were arrested by the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency Cyber Investigation Unit for mocking and belittling the flood damage in the Honam region by referring to an 8-year-old victim as 'Oden Tang' and comparing the loss of an urn to 'Misugaru' (a traditional powdered grain drink).
YouTube also saw a sharp increase in corrective actions by the KCSC for discriminatory and derogatory content, with 122 cases last year, ranking third after DC Inside (578 cases) and Ilbe (513 cases).
Meanwhile, Germany operates a 'hate speech law' that strengthens platform management responsibilities by imposing fines of up to 50 million euros (approximately 68.3 billion KRW) on social networking services (SNS) that fail to remove content containing inciting violent speech against specific groups based on race, gender, age, nationality, etc., within 24 hours, since 2017.
Regarding Germany's hate speech law, Assemblywoman Kim pointed out, "It is worth considering for our case as well. For sites like Ilbe, where discriminatory and derogatory expressions are rampant, it is necessary to designate them as harmful media for youth."
She added, "Although the need to designate Ilbe as harmful media for youth has been consistently raised over the past decade as it became a social issue, progress has been sluggish. This is hard to understand," and said, "I will closely examine the issue of designating hate sites like Ilbe as harmful media for youth during this National Assembly audit."
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