Sangheon Lee Proposes 'Content Industry Act' to Strengthen Game Users' Rights Protection

Sangheon Lee, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] Lee Sang-heon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on the 30th that he has taken the lead in proposing the "Partial Amendment to the Content Industry Promotion Act," which restructures the functions of the Content Dispute Mediation Committee.

The amendment mainly restructures the Content Dispute Mediation Committee into the "Content Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Committee," expands the committee's personnel, and strengthens its function to protect users' rights. In addition to arbitration functions, it adds functions related to collective dispute mediation and ex officio mediation decisions.

According to Rep. Lee, as the content market has grown due to COVID-19, content disputes have also been increasing. The number of dispute mediations filed with the Content Dispute Mediation Committee increased nearly threefold from 6,638 cases in 2019 to 17,202 cases last year.

The field with the most disputes reported during content use was gaming. Reports related to the gaming sector reached 15,942 cases, accounting for 92.7% of the total. Rep. Lee evaluated that social phenomena such as the Chinese "Game Northeast Project" backlash and domestic users' collective protests like the "Truck Protest" influenced this increase in the number of reports.

Currently, disputes arising during content use are mediated by the Content Dispute Mediation Committee and resolved through arbitration functions at the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board. However, since the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board handles disputes in various fields such as construction, finance, and trade, there have been criticisms regarding its lack of expertise in content disputes. The Korea Consumer Agency also faces limitations in expertise as it covers all social sectors.

Rep. Lee stated, "If the amendment passes, it will be possible to compensate damages without complicated lawsuits through the collective dispute mediation system, and even users who did not participate in the process may receive compensation," adding, "As dissatisfaction among game users is rising, this will be a good means to protect the rights and interests of not only game users but also users of various content."

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