Stipulated in the Enforcement Decree of the Telecommunications Business Act
Big Tech Companies Tell the KCC: "Costs Are Too High"
Impossible to Control Every Video Uploaded to YouTube and Instagram
Authorities: "Content Can Be Viewed for 13 to 27 Seconds Before Blocking"
It has been confirmed that major U.S. big tech companies, Google and Meta, submitted opinions to our government stating that it is "impossible due to enormous costs" to comply with domestic laws requiring the identification and blocking of illegal filming materials before they are posted online.
Earlier, the government amended the Enforcement Decree of the Telecommunications Business Act to mandate that platform companies must preemptively block illegal filming materials from being uploaded to the internet. However, big tech companies owning YouTube and Instagram have opposed this. Criticism has arisen that the preemptive blocking policy for illegal filming materials has become ineffective as overseas big tech companies operating platforms with the largest number of domestic users are uncooperative.
According to the minutes of the full meeting of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) held in February, Google and Meta officially conveyed to the KCC in July last year during the opinion collection process that "it is difficult to bear the costs of rebuilding the pre-comparison and identification system required by the Korean government." These companies argued that "pre-filtering the vast amount of videos uploaded worldwide causes delays in upload times, leading to user inconvenience," and that "post-comparison and identification measures sufficiently protect users."
Google and Meta expressed their stance following inspections conducted by the KCC targeting tech companies in 2022 and 2024, after which correction orders were imposed earlier this year. Domestic tech company Naver was also included among those subject to correction orders. Naver is also delaying preemptive blocking measures, citing that "applying filtering before each video upload significantly increases the time it takes to post content."
However, a Naver representative stated, "Filtering is applied after users upload posts," and added, "We are making efforts to ensure that such content is not exposed in search results." The representative also said, "We plan to submit related implementation plans to expedite the process from content posting to blocking."
Following the 2019 digital sex crime 'Nth Room case,' the government amended the Enforcement Decree of the Telecommunications Business Act in 2020 to require platform companies to compare and identify whether content qualifies as illegal filming materials before users upload posts. This applies to value-added telecommunications service providers with an average daily user count of 100,000 or more or annual sales of 1 billion KRW or more. There are 91 providers in Korea classified as 'preemptive action obligated providers.'
Within the platform industry, there is an assessment that the KCC’s legislation is somewhat burdensome for large companies. An industry insider said, "Considering that about 80 obligated providers, including Kakao, have complied with preemptive measures, the KCC’s demands are not technically impossible." However, regarding Google and Meta, the insider added, "Given the enormous volume of videos and photos uploaded worldwide, the costs to block all of them preemptively inevitably become very high."
Despite Google and Meta’s opposition, the KCC has limited measures it can take. Kim Woo-seok, head of the Digital Harmful Information Response Division at the KCC, said, "Considering this is the early stage of regulatory enforcement, it currently takes 13 to 27 seconds per provider?from content viewing to blocking?for Google, Meta, and Naver, and we are taking steps to further reduce this time."
Professor Yoo Hyun-jae of Sogang University’s Department of Communication commented on the KCC’s stance, saying, "The government needs to approach dealings with large global companies strategically." He added, "Rather than merely presenting justifications, the government should present conditions that compel compliance with laws and regulations or provide concrete data." He further stated, "It is true that the general public has enjoyed benefits through these platforms, but that does not mean companies can be given leniency indefinitely. It is time to firmly hold them socially responsible for the harm caused."
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