"Infinite Scroll, Autoplay... Harm to Adolescents: Platform Operators' Responsibilities Must Be Strengthened"

Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Holds "Youth Digital Safety Forum" on November 4
Discusses Risks of Addictive Design and AI Dependence

Calls have emerged to strengthen platform operators' responsibilities to prevent the harmful effects of adolescents' excessive social media use and their use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots.

The Asia Business Daily DB

On the afternoon of November 4, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Korea Youth Policy Institute held a Youth Policy Forum at the Grand Central Auditorium in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the topic of "Measures to Strengthen Platform Operators' Responsibilities for Adolescent Digital Safety."

Seong Ukje, a senior research fellow at the Korea Information Society Development Institute, delivered a presentation titled "Operators' Responsibilities for Prevention and Protection in a Safe Platform Environment." He proposed strengthening platform operators' responsibilities, rather than leaving the issue of adolescents' excessive social media use solely to their individual self-control. He said that service design features that encourage users to remain engaged, such as recommendation algorithms, infinite scrolling and autoplay, can themselves pose risk factors.

Kim Bongseop, a research fellow at the National Information Society Agency, presented on "The Current Status of Adolescents' Use of Generative AI and Chatbots and Measures to Address It." He pointed out that the growing use of generative AI and chatbots could pose risks, including adolescents' emotional dependence, weakened judgment and acceptance of inaccurate information. He added that legal and institutional responses suited to the AI era, such as new ethical standards and a "prior AI use review system," as well as technical safeguards, are needed.

The ensuing panel discussion covered regulations on the addictive design of platforms and operators' obligations to assess risks.

Sang Yunmo, an associate professor in the Department of Communication and Arts at Yonsei University, said, "The addictive design of platforms such as social media and AI chatbots is causing real harm to children and adolescents." He added, "Given the clear negative impact of addictive platform design on children and adolescents, there seems to be no disagreement that appropriate regulations are needed to protect them."

He continued, "The key challenge is to find a policy mix suited to domestic conditions among access restrictions based on specific age thresholds, regulations on addictive design, and risk assessments and mitigation measures based on platform operators' duty of care." He added, "Since social consensus must come before determining the scope and stringency of regulation, it is necessary to closely examine various regulatory approaches adopted overseas and draw lessons from them."

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