Broadcasting, Media and Communications Committee Designates and Notifies Eight Platforms Including Naver and Google Under False Information Act

Guidelines for the Amended Information and Communications Network Act Released

The Broadcasting, Media and Communications Committee announced on July 8 that, in accordance with the amended Information and Communications Network Act, it has designated and notified eight major domestic and international platform operators—including Naver, Kakao, and Google—as large-scale information and communications service providers subject to obligations to respond to false and manipulated information.

At a briefing held at the Broadcasting, Media and Communications Committee building in Gwacheon on the same day, Shin Younggyun, Director of the Broadcasting and Communications User Policy Bureau, explained, "The domestic operators subject to regulation are Naver, Kakao, Nate, and DCInside, while the international operators are Google, Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok."

According to the amended Information and Communications Network Act, operators with an average of over one million daily users during the three months preceding the end of last year must establish autonomous operation policies to respond to false and manipulated information and operate procedures for receiving and handling reports. The Committee plans to review whether these platforms are properly fulfilling their legal obligations by inspecting their autonomous operation policies and will also investigate and supervise their actual practices.

Regarding International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) certification, the Committee stated that, as of now, there is one domestic certified organization, JTBC, and three additional organizations are in the process of certification.

Kim Jongchul, Chairman of the U.S.-Korea Defense Commission. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

On this day, the Committee also released a set of guidelines intended as an explanatory resource to help accurately understand the amended Information and Communications Network Act.

The guidelines include: ▲ Criteria for large-scale information and communications service providers (service types, user numbers) and provider compliance requirements (establishing autonomous operation policies, receiving and handling reports, preparing and publishing reports, supporting fact-finding activities); ▲ Relief methods in the event of damage caused by illegal, false, or manipulated information (filing relevant reports and requests for dispute mediation, submitting review requests to the Broadcasting, Media and Communications Review Committee, and claiming damages); ▲ Sanctions for the distribution of illegal, false, or manipulated information (administrative fines), among other specific details.

Chairman Kim Jongchul stated, "We hope that these guidelines will serve as a reference point for minimizing confusion in the field and for building a trustworthy information environment for both operators and users. Going forward, we plan to actively incorporate feedback from the field into the ongoing operation and improvement of the system, and will continuously share case studies related to the application of the law through the Committee's website to help the public better understand the system."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.