Ministry of Science and ICT to Discuss Activation of Competition in Digital Platform Market

Experts and Platform Operators Hold Inaugural Meeting of the 2nd Subcommittee of the 'Digital Platform Policy Forum'

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] On the 8th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it held the inaugural meeting of the 2nd Subcommittee within the ‘Digital Platform Policy Forum’ (hereinafter referred to as the Policy Forum), which was launched on the 27th of last month, together with experts from various fields, major platform operators, and related associations and organizations.

The 2nd Subcommittee of the Policy Forum was established to gather diverse opinions from various sectors based on a thorough analysis of the domestic platform market situation and domestic and international regulatory trends, amid the increasing influence of major digital platforms on citizens' lives and the economy and society, and to discuss directions for institutional improvements to revitalize competition in the digital platform market.

The 2nd Subcommittee is composed of Subcommittee Chair Namhoon Kwon (Department of Economics, Konkuk University; President of the Korea Information and Communication Policy Society), experts in major information and communication, economics, and legal fields, major platform operators such as Coupang, Danggeun Market, and the Korea Internet Corporations Association, as well as startups and related organizations. In addition to the 2nd Subcommittee members, various platform operators and stakeholders will be able to submit opinions or participate directly in meetings as needed, operating in an open manner.

At this inaugural meeting, domestic leading platform operators such as Naver and Kakao, the Korea Startup Forum representing the domestic startup industry, and ITI Korea, which includes Google, Facebook, and Netflix, also participated to present opinions related to future discussions on revitalizing competition in the digital platform market.

The 2nd Subcommittee of the Policy Forum plans to address key agendas including ▲ promotion of institutional improvements such as information and communication laws and self-regulation that align with the domestic digital platform competition situation ▲ analysis and comparison of domestic and international digital platform market situations and regulatory progress ▲ review of reverse discrimination related to the introduction of systems to activate competition between domestic and foreign operators and between large companies and startups.

Furthermore, under the 2nd Subcommittee, a task force will be formed by recruiting additional experts including those within the subcommittee, led by Seongwook Heo, Director of the Network Policy Office at the Ministry of Science and ICT, and Subcommittee Chair Namhoon Kwon as general leaders. Based on discussions within the subcommittee, they will work on preparing institutional improvement plans for flexible regulations and legislative needs through consensus among stakeholders.

At this inaugural meeting, presentations were given on ‘Domestic and International Platform Policy Status and 2nd Subcommittee Operation Plan’ (Researcher Seonghyun Ra, Korea Information Society Development Institute) and ‘Cases of Domestic and International Self-Regulation and Cooperative Regulation’ (CEO Daegun Cho, Inka Research & Consulting), followed by discussions on the operation direction and future plans of the Policy Forum’s 2nd Subcommittee.

Seongwook Heo, Director of the Network Policy Office at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “Regulation of the digital platform industry, which will be the core of Korea’s future technological innovation and growth engines, must be approached cautiously. While legislation to promote competition is necessary, side effects arising from the growth of platform operators can also be addressed through self-regulation based on consensus among stakeholders and operators, as exemplified by the net neutrality principle, which has become a fundamental principle of the domestic internet ecosystem without legislation today.”

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