"First 'Fake News Act' Report: Portions of Kim Eojun's Video Blocked...Now Unviewable in South Korea"
Access Restricted About Two Weeks After Former Reporter Lee's Report
"Relevant Remarks Found to be False"
Both Kim Eojun and the Prosecution File Appeals
On the day the so-called "Fake News Act" went into effect, a portion of broadcaster Kim Eojun's video series "Kim Eojun's Dasbweida" was blocked for viewing in South Korea. This occurred about two weeks after Dongjae Lee, a guest editorial board member of Maeil Shinmun and former Channel A reporter, filed a report on the video.
According to the IT industry on July 22, the video "Kim Eojun's Dasbweida Episode 134," which was uploaded to the YouTube channel "Ttanjibangsuk" in October 2020, is currently inaccessible for playback in South Korea.
When users attempt to access the video, a message appears stating, "This content is not available on this country domain due to a defamation report." The video has not been completely deleted from YouTube; it is simply restricted from domestic access.
The blocked video is one of the pieces of content Lee reported to YouTube on the 7th. The following day, Lee stated via social media that he reported the video on the grounds that Kim had spread false and manipulated information about him.
From April to October 2020, Kim remarked on radio and YouTube broadcasts that Lee, while former Value Investment Korea (VIK) CEO Lee Cheol was in prison, approached him and pressured him to claim that he had given money to Rhyu Si-min, or otherwise coerced him to make false statements.
The YouTube channel 'Ttanjibangsongguk,' whose domestic playback has been blocked due to defamation reports, features the video 'Kim Eo-jun's Das Bwoida Episode 134.' Screenshot from YouTube
View original imagePreviously, on July 14, Kang Kyungmuk, a single-judge panel at the Seoul Northern District Court's Criminal Division 14, sentenced Kim to a fine of 20 million won on charges of defamation by spreading false information under the Information and Communications Network Act.
The court found that all of Kim's statements were false and that he made them with at least conscious negligence, intending to defame Lee. The court also criticized the severity of the offense, noting that repeatedly mentioning false information had influenced the process of shaping public opinion.
Kim appealed the first trial verdict, and the prosecution—who had earlier sought a one-year prison sentence—also appealed, arguing that the penalty was too lenient.
Lee's report was filed immediately after the amended Information and Communications Network Act, known as the "7·7 Act," went into effect. This law requires large online platforms to establish procedures for receiving and handling reports of illegal and manipulated information.
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However, the blocking of this video was not a government-ordered deletion under the revised law but rather a self-initiated action by YouTube after reviewing the defamation report. Additionally, since the video in question was posted in 2020, before the law took effect, it is difficult to conclude that the amended act was applied directly in this case.
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