Government to Establish Self-Regulation Guidelines for Platform Companies... Public-Private TF Formed

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The government has decided to form a public-private joint task force (TF) to establish guidelines for activating data accessibility and enhancing algorithm transparency. The plan is to establish a self-regulatory organization and develop platform policies led by the private sector.

On the 22nd, Minister Lee Jong-ho of the Ministry of Science and ICT met with CEOs of platform companies and experts from various fields at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry to discuss the direction of digital platform policies. Industry representatives included Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver; Namgoong Hoon, CEO of Kakao; Park Dae-jun, co-CEO of Coupang; Kim Beom-jun, CEO of Woowa Brothers; and Kim Jae-hyun, co-CEO of Danggeun Market.

Minister Lee stated, "The government will spare no effort to provide comprehensive support so that companies can fully demonstrate their core competencies in a free market led by the private sector," adding, "Especially for the platform industry, we plan to form a pan-government policy consultative body and simultaneously pursue self-regulation and efforts to enhance corporate innovation capabilities."

He continued, "The Ministry of Science and ICT will play an active role in ensuring that innovation and fairness within the platform ecosystem are harmonized during the pan-government platform policy promotion process," and "First, we will prepare a digital platform development strategy that includes the values of innovation and fairness, and form a public-private cooperative task force (TF) to create self-regulatory guidelines related to data, AI, and other areas."

CEO Choi Soo-yeon said, "We welcome the government's discussion of self-regulation measures together with platform companies," and added, "We will gather wisdom together for a healthy digital ecosystem going forward."

CEO Namgoong Hoon also shared on his social networking service (SNS) immediately after the meeting, "I spoke about efforts toward self-regulation in the digital platform industry on a broad scale," and "In particular, I mentioned that although the newly emerging metaverse area resembles games in its technical form and appearance, it should be clearly distinguished from games in terms of policy."

Specific plans for establishing a self-regulatory organization will be discussed at the pan-government 'Digital Platform Policy Consultative Body,' which includes related ministries, and the 'Digital Platform Policy Forum,' which involves industry and experts.

The Digital Platform Policy Forum has been organized and operated by the Ministry of Science and ICT since 2020, centered on academia and industry, to promote competition in digital platforms and address various issues arising from platforms.

It operates under a dual-chair system with two co-chairs from the private and government sectors. In the private sector, Lee Won-woo, Vice President for Planning at Seoul National University, serves as chair, and in the government sector, Park Yoon-kyu, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, serves as chair.

The policy forum is composed of four subcommittees: Subcommittee 1 (Robust Industrial Ecosystem), Subcommittee 2 (Fair Growth System), Subcommittee 3 (Social Value Creation), and Subcommittee 4 (Healthy User Environment).

The goal of the policy forum is to derive improvement directions for problems that may arise on platforms and innovation policies. Issues concerning not only large platform companies but also small and venture businesses, as well as AI and data specialized companies, will also be discussed.

In his opening remarks at the policy forum held following the meeting, Minister Lee said, "Platform legislative regulation takes a long time to introduce and can make flexible responses difficult in fields with frequent market changes," adding, "Self-regulatory policies based on consensus among various stakeholders and promotion policies that support the growth and innovation of platform operators must be discussed together."