Kakao Revises Operation Policy, Effective from June 16
Zero-Tolerance Principle for Sex Crimes
"Building a Safe and Trustworthy Environment"
On May 19, Kakao announced that it will revise its 'KakaoTalk Operation Policy' to strengthen the protection of children and adolescents. Kakao made this announcement on May 16 and plans to implement the changes starting June 16.
A partial screenshot of the KakaoTalk operation policy stating the application of a zero-tolerance principle to child and adolescent sex crimes.
This policy revision will apply to both private chats and open chat rooms, with a focus on strengthening the response and sanctions standards for inappropriate activities, including the prevention of illegal information distribution. The main changes include: ▲specifying detailed prohibited acts and expanding the scope of sanctions for conversations aimed at sexual exploitation of children and adolescents; ▲adding prohibited acts related to conversations for prostitution or sexual exploitation; ▲prohibiting acts of preparing, conspiring, inciting, or promoting terrorism, as well as sharing information about violent extremism; and ▲prohibiting illegal debt collection activities.
In particular, Kakao has specified as prohibited acts even within conversations between children and adolescents, such as sexual innuendo, excessive expressions of intimacy, requests for personal information, and suggestions to move to other chat platforms. In addition, to prevent situations in which children and adolescents may expose themselves to the risk of sex crimes, the policy now also prohibits acts such as requesting money, other property benefits, or conveniences from other users, as well as proposing sexual encounters in exchange for compensation.
Kakao stated that it applies a zero-tolerance principle to sex crimes involving children and adolescents. In the case of private chat rooms, if a violation is confirmed through reports from users or institutions, the offending user may be permanently restricted from all KakaoTalk services immediately.
Furthermore, users who have previously violated policies related to sex crimes against children or adolescents may also be permanently restricted from using the open chat service, even after rejoining KakaoTalk, through retroactive application.
Meanwhile, last month Kakao introduced a simplified process for protecting minors to further strengthen the protection of children and adolescents. Through this process, the use of open chat by children and adolescents can now be restricted simply by a request from a legal guardian such as a parent or grandparent, and the duration of the protective measure has been extended from the previous 180 days to one year. In addition, Kakao has created a separate category at the customer center and significantly simplified the application procedures and required documents.
Son Sunghee, Kakao's Youth Protection Officer, stated, "We are continuously reviewing and improving our services and operation policies so that users can use KakaoTalk in a safer and more trustworthy environment," adding, "We will continue to strive to provide the optimal user environment by balancing user privacy with safety."
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