KCSC terminates 450 accounts for prostitution information on chat apps

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) has issued corrective measures against information that induces prostitution by presenting price conditions, as chat applications have been exploited as channels that trigger various digital sex crimes, such as the Nth Room case.

On the 8th, the KCSC held a Telecommunications Review Subcommittee meeting and decided to issue corrective measures (service termination) for a total of 450 cases of prostitution information using chat apps, detected through focused monitoring conducted over about three weeks from May 9 to 28.

The focused monitoring results confirmed that most prostitution information primarily used 'eun-eo' (slang) or 'choseong-eo' (initial consonant abbreviations) to induce prostitution. Additionally, an investigation of chat apps on app markets such as Google Play revealed that many contents, including chat app names and introductory phrases like drinking friends, secret friends, and ○○○mates, were distributed, which could potentially entice or encourage inappropriate relationships among adolescents.

Furthermore, some chat apps rated for ages '3 and above' or '12 and above' contained inappropriate expressions or content unsuitable for their rating, such as phrases like drinking friends, a drink, ○○○mates, and links to dating sites. A KCSC official stated, "Based on future distribution investigation results, we plan to strengthen focused monitoring and review of chat apps that may pose problems, and also seek ways to better protect adolescents through consultations with app market operators."

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