‘n Beonbang Prevention Act’ Passes Plenary Session Amid Controversy... Mandatory 'Obscene Content Blocking' for Naver, Kakao, etc.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] On the afternoon of the 20th, the so-called 'n-bunbang Prevention Act (Amendments to the Telecommunications Business Act and the Information and Communications Network Act),' which imposes stronger self-regulation obligations on internet service companies to prevent the recurrence of the Telegram n-bunbang case, passed the plenary session of the National Assembly. Despite repeated controversies such as private censorship, reverse discrimination against domestic companies, and hasty processing, it ultimately boarded the last legislative train of the 20th National Assembly.

The Ministry of Science and ICT, the competent authority, plans to minimize concerns about private censorship and enhance enforcement power, but difficulties are expected in the process of specifying detailed contents, including the enforcement decree.

◆ Passage of the n-bunbang Prevention Act amid controversy=The National Assembly held a plenary session on the afternoon of the 20th and passed the n-bunbang Prevention Act with 170 votes in favor, 2 against, and 6 abstentions out of 178 members present. The amendment mainly imposes a responsibility on internet operators such as Naver and Kakao to take 'technical measures' to delete illegal obscene materials and block related access. Violators face up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 100 million KRW.

The internet industry immediately expressed concerns. The Korea Internet Corporations Association, Korea Venture Business Association, and Korea Startup Forum issued a statement saying, "It is very regrettable that the amendment passed the plenary session of the National Assembly," and pointed out that "questions remain unresolved as to whether these laws will eradicate similar crimes."

So far, the related industry has opposed the amendment, arguing that it imposes excessive obligations on operators and that the opinion-gathering process was insufficient. In particular, the current amendment is explained to potentially lead to infringement of users' communication privacy and suppression of freedom of expression by encouraging companies to engage in censorship. Meanwhile, there have been repeated criticisms that overseas operators such as Telegram, the hotbed of the n-bunbang case, are excluded, and only domestic operators are subject to regulation.

Such criticisms were also raised at the full meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly on the same day. Geum Tae-seop, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said, "It raises questions about how much the obligated operators should search," and added, "Ultimately, they have to check the content, which may infringe on communication privacy." In response, Han Sang-hyuk, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, said, "The technical measures only detect what is distributed on platforms," and emphasized again regarding private censorship controversy, "It does not mean that operators should look into personal chat rooms like KakaoTalk, but aims to prevent secondary distribution in public online spaces."

◆ "Ambiguous" and "Opaque" - Conflicts Inevitable in Detailed Discussions=With the passage of the amendment amid repeated controversies, noise is inevitable in the future detailed discussions such as the enforcement decree. The Korea Internet Corporations Association, Korea Venture Business Association, and Korea Startup Forum clearly stated that they will check whether the enforcement decree is prepared according to the content disclosed by the government during the legislative process and express their opinions.

Currently, inside and outside the industry, concerns are also expressed that the meaning of 'technical and administrative measures' in the amendment is ambiguous. In addition to portals and messengers under scrutiny, there is a possibility that many information and communications network operators providing chat services, such as games and commerce, will be subject to regulation. This is explained to deepen reverse discrimination against small startups and have a shrinking effect on the entire industry.

An industry official said, "Although the Korea Communications Commission stated that there are no concerns about private censorship, the uncertainty is too great at present as industry opinions have not been sufficiently gathered," and pointed out, "The scope of application of technical and administrative measures is too vague. Since it is left to the presidential decree, it is unclear how far it will apply."

The Korea Communications Commission is considering functions such as allowing users who discover illegal filming materials to report to operators, preventing redistribution of illegal filming materials, and sending warning messages in relation to technical and administrative measures in the amendment. During the drafting of the enforcement decree, the commission plans to minimize privacy infringement concerns by referring to existing legislative precedents and sufficiently collecting opinions from the industry and experts.

Furthermore, regarding obligated operators, the Korea Communications Commission stated, "During the review process of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, to ensure predictability for subjects, the bill reflects that when defining the scope of obligated operators by presidential decree, the types of telecommunications services and the size of operators should be considered," and added, "Based on this, we plan to review the types and scales of services where illegal filming materials are mainly distributed and concretize the details by collecting various opinions."

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