[News Terms] Seoul Mayor's Official Residence Defamation Post Deletion Refusal 'KISO'

'Korea Internet Self-governance Organization (KISO)' is an internet self-regulation organization established by portal companies for internet self-regulation. It is an abbreviation of 'Korea Internet Self-governance Organization.'

In March 2009, major internet operators such as Naver, Kakao, and SK Communications established KISO to enhance users' freedom of expression while emphasizing users' responsibility, so that the internet could become a trusted platform for information communication.

Unlike organizations under government management (Broadcasting and Communications Commission) such as the Internet Broadcasting and Communications Deliberation Committee, KISO is evaluated for its efforts to derive order in the internet space and social consensus through fair and transparent policies by the operators themselves.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.
Photo by Yonhap News

Recently, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon requested the deletion of internet posts related to the 'Seoul Mayor's official residence,' claiming that the posts contained false information that damaged his reputation and included expressions intended to defame him, but KISO did not accept the request.

The KISO Post Policy Subcommittee stated, "The posts subject to review are based on media reports and express personal opinions, so it is difficult to consider them as 'cases where only definitive and insulting expressions are made without specifying concrete circumstances or facts.'" They added, "Although some expressions may be somewhat unpleasant or rude to the requester, these are critical opinions on the public duties of a public figure and fall within the scope that public figures must endure."

In addition, in February, KISO rejected an online post deletion request from a private university that claimed the posts insulted and defamed the school by stating 'People who scored 9th grade on the CSAT and those who ran away from the exam site on the CSAT day also passed,' and 'The worst university in Korea,' judging it as a 'simple expression of reason.' In October and December of last year, KISO also rejected deletion requests related to 'defamation of religious organizations and posts criticizing religion,' and in May of last year, deletion requests for posts by former political officials and other public figures were also not accepted.