[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) has formed and launched a 'Council for Enhancing the Reliability and Transparency of Portal News,' but the fact that portal industry insiders, who are the actual stakeholders, are excluded has led to criticism that it is a 'half-baked' council.
According to the KCC on the 30th, this council is composed of experts in related fields such as media and law, as well as relevant government ministries, and will operate for about six months. The council's purpose is to increase accountability and reliability in the arrangement of articles caused by news recommendation algorithms and to devise measures to enhance the transparency of the portal's news service provision methods and procedures.
This is part of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's national agenda. Previously, the government had declared since the Presidential Transition Committee period that it would abolish the news editing rights of portal sites. It also announced plans to establish an expert-centered Algorithm Transparency Committee as a legal entity within portals to verify that portals do not become hosts for confirmation bias and fake news, and to gradually convert the portal's news partnership system to outlink.
The KCC emphasized that to concretely implement this national agenda, it will discuss ▲ transparency measures regarding the composition and operation of the News Partnership Evaluation Committee ▲ improvement measures for algorithm recommendations that cause confirmation bias, and prepare measures so that portals can faithfully fulfill their role as news intermediaries.
Some critics argue that the newly formed council is being operated too closed off. Currently, the KCC has kept the members of the council confidential, only revealing that lawyers, professors, and executives from media-related foundations are included. While calling for portal reform measures, the actual portal industry insiders were not included in the council. This contrasts with the KCC’s previous formation of the 'Private Council for Protecting Users in the Intelligent Information Society' and the 'Metaverse Society Council,' which involved many companies.
An industry insider said, "To understand the realities of portal operations and the technical issues of algorithms, it is natural that relevant experts should be included in the council," adding, "There is concern that the council will create a plan and then impose regulations in a post-notification manner, saying 'You must follow this as is.'"
Regarding this, a KCC official stated, "This is a form of seeking advice, not an organization with a council chair. Since there is no plan yet, we are seeking advice during the process of setting the direction of the plan," and added, "Once a certain plan is prepared, we will naturally consult and discuss with portal companies such as Naver and Kakao."
Meanwhile, there is much speculation about the KCC taking the lead in regulating portals. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is responsible for internet news service-related tasks. The applicable laws are the Newspaper Act and the Media Arbitration Act.
The Democratic Party of Korea is also pushing for regulation of portal news services through amendments to the Information and Communications Network Act. Experts point out that regulating portal news through amendments to the Network Act does not align with the current legal system's consistency.
At a forum on the 23rd titled 'Contents and Issues of the Amendment to the Information and Communications Network Act Regulating Portal News,' lawyer Kim Borami, who presented at the event, pointed out, "Basically, defining portal news service regulation measures under the Information and Communications Network Act is inconsistent."
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