[2020 National Audit] Portal Government Advertising Spending Soars on Google and YouTube... "Are Taxes Filling Overseas Operators' Pockets?"

Google 7 Times and YouTube 16 Times Increase Compared to Naver in the Last 4 Years
Democratic Party Lawmaker Park Jung: "Government Ad Distribution Needs Review from a Public Interest Perspective"

Source: Office of Assemblyman Park Jung

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Over the past four years, the amount spent on government advertisements on internet portals has increased dramatically on overseas portals. Compared to the domestic operator Naver, Google’s spending increased about 7 times, and YouTube’s increased 16 times, raising concerns that public taxes are merely enriching foreign operators.

According to the "Recent 4-Year Internet Portal Government Advertisement Execution Status" disclosed on the 13th by Park Jung, a member of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, obtained from the Korea Press Foundation, Naver saw a 62% increase in the number of government advertisement executions and an 84% increase in amount during this period. In contrast, Google’s number of executions increased by 367%, and the amount by 544%. YouTube’s number of executions rose by 983%, and the amount by 1318%.

Based on the amount spent on government advertisements, Google’s spending increased 7 times compared to Naver, and YouTube’s increased 16 times. YouTube’s government advertisement amount rose from 1.315 billion KRW in 2016 to 18.65 billion KRW in 2019, a 14-fold increase, and in 2019, it surpassed Naver to rank first. During the same period, the domestic operator Daum Kakao’s government advertisement amount decreased by 2% compared to 2016.

Recently, Google announced a policy to impose a 30% commission fee on all apps through mandatory use of 'in-app payments,' drawing criticism as an abuse of its monopolistic position. Additionally, concerns have been raised that government advertisements funded by public taxes are also being monopolized. These foreign operators have servers overseas, making proper taxation on government advertisement revenue difficult.

Assemblyman Park said, "It is problematic that government advertisements funded by public taxes are operated in a way that only enriches foreign companies like Google and YouTube under the pretext of promotional effectiveness," and added, "The Korea Press Foundation needs to review the distribution of government advertisements and the selection of promotional media from the perspective of public interest and fairness."

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