In the First Half of the Year, 'Nakao' Provided 5.82 Million Account Information Records to Investigative Agencies... Doubled in Two Years

Naver and Kakao Disclose in Transparency Report
5,824,376 Cases Provided to Investigative Agencies
According to Search Warrants for Compulsory Investigations

South Korea's two major portals, Naver and Kakao, have significantly increased the amount of user account information provided to investigative agencies in the first half of this year.

Naver [Image source=Yonhap News]

Kakao Photo by Yonhap News

According to the transparency reports released separately by Naver and Kakao on the 28th, the total amount of information submitted by the two companies to investigative agencies, including the prosecution, in the first half of this year was 5,824,376 cases.

This represents a 36.0% increase compared to 4,283,249 cases in the second half of last year, a 22.0% increase compared to 4,774,446 cases in the first half of last year, and a 95.5% increase compared to 2,978,871 cases in the first half of 2022.

Most of the information provided by Naver and Kakao was based on search warrants for forced investigations by investigative agencies. In the first half of this year, Kakao processed 15,893 out of 19,418 document requests from investigative agencies related to search warrants, providing information on 5,715,759 cases.

A significant portion of this information is presumed to be related to KakaoTalk accounts, which are known as the nation's messenger. Additionally, Kakao provided 2,490 cases of communication fact verification data, such as access times and IP addresses for specific IDs, and 34 cases of communication restriction measures (corresponding to the portal Daum), which refer to wiretapping.

Looking at the types of information provided by Naver to investigative agencies, 104,537 cases were related to search warrants, 1,545 cases were communication fact verification data, and 11 cases were communication restriction measures. Since 2015, Naver and Kakao have been publishing transparency reports detailing their responses to government requests for user information, emphasizing strengthened user information protection amid controversies over 'cyber censorship.'

They have particularly stressed that when investigative agencies request user information for criminal investigations, they review the legality, procedures, and scope before providing encrypted data. The increase in information submitted to investigative agencies in the first half of this year is interpreted as reflecting the recent rise in search warrants.

According to the Supreme Court Judicial Yearbook, the total number of search warrants filed with courts nationwide last year was 457,160, a 15.2% increase compared to 2022. Some voices have raised concerns that the increase in search warrants could potentially lead to privacy infringements.