'Nth Room Prevention Act' Fully Enforced... 3% Penalty on Sales Imposed

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] From this year, internet service providers who fail to delete or block illegal filming content will face fines of up to 3% of their sales revenue.

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) announced and enacted amendments to the Telecommunications Business Act and the Information and Communications Network Act on the 10th of last month. Accordingly, from this year, if internet service providers intentionally fail to delete or block illegal filming content, they will be fined up to 3% of their sales revenue.

The KCC specifically established enforcement ordinances and notifications that include ▲expanding the entities that can request deletion of illegal filming content ▲requesting the Korea Communications Standards Commission’s review when internet providers have difficulty judging illegal filming content ▲imposing fines for intentional non-compliance with deletion or access blocking measures ▲designating persons responsible for preventing distribution of illegal filming content and submitting transparency reports ▲technical and administrative measures to prevent prior distribution.

Not only general users but also organizations such as the Korea Women’s Human Rights Institute, Sexual Violence Victim Counseling Centers, and other institutions or groups designated by the KCC can request internet service providers to delete or block access to illegal filming content.

Among providers with over 100,000 users or annual average sales exceeding 1 billion KRW, individuals or companies offering SNS, community chat rooms, internet personal broadcasting, or search services must designate an executive or head of the responsible department as the person in charge of preventing distribution of illegal filming content. Starting December next year, they must also implement technical and administrative measures to prevent prior distribution of illegal filming content.

However, there remain limitations in applying the law to foreign service providers with unclear server locations, such as Telegram. The KCC plans to strive to secure law enforcement through international cooperation.

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