"Metaverse Sexual Content, Hate, and Harassment Should Be Prioritized for Restriction"

KCC 'Metaverse User Protection Policy Task Force' Full Meeting

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] The Korea Communications Commission held a full meeting of the Metaverse (Extended Virtual World) Ecosystem User Protection Policy Task Force on the 27th and announced that the results of a survey on metaverse users indicated that sexual content, hate speech, and harassment content should be prioritized for restriction.

According to the "Metaverse User Perception Survey" conducted online by the KCC from the 23rd of last month to the 2nd of this month targeting 809 metaverse users aged 13 to 59 nationwide, the advantages of the metaverse were rated highly, with "being able to meet people from diverse environments" scoring 3.78 out of 5, and "being able to do various things that cannot be done in reality" scoring 3.72.

Regarding the necessity of ethical principles, the "necessity of ethical principles that metaverse operators must follow" scored 4.23, and the "necessity of ethical principles that creators must follow" scored 4.20. The types of content that require restrictions when using the metaverse were "sexual content" (25.1%) and "hate speech and harassment" (20.3%) in that order.

The task force also gathered opinions from related businesses such as Naver, Kakao, SKT, and Meta (formerly Facebook) regarding the direction of the "Metaverse Digital Community Development Plan." The KCC plans to hold another full meeting next month and, based on the opinions discussed so far, will prepare user protection policies including basic principles for protecting metaverse users based on cooperative self-regulation.

Meanwhile, the KCC launched the task force in January to establish the "Metaverse Digital Community Development Plan," which contains measures to create a desirable usage environment for the metaverse ecosystem.