Yang Bunam: "Blocking Incitement of Rebellion, Riots, and Terrorism on YouTube"

Amendment to the "Information and Communications Network Act" Proposed
Legal Basis Established for Confiscation and Recovery of Illegal Profits

Yang Bunam, Member of the National Assembly.

A bill has been proposed to ban content that incites insurrection, riots, or terrorism on online platforms such as YouTube, and to block profit generation from such content.

Yang Bunam, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (representing Gwangju Seo-gu Eul), on the 25th proposed an amendment to the "Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc." The amendment defines content that incites insurrection, riots, terrorism, etc. by spreading false information or manipulated facts as illegal information, and prohibits profit generation through such acts.

Recently, there has been a rise in cases where false or distorted information is spread on platforms like YouTube for economic or political gain, causing social unrest. In particular, after martial law was declared on December 3 last year, some content inciting riots by fueling suspicions of election fraud escalated to incidents such as the court intrusion, threatening constitutional order and the rule of law. Furthermore, the issue of some individuals profiting from such incitement is becoming increasingly serious.

The amendment first defines as illegal information any content that, for economic or political gain, distorts or manipulates facts to mislead the public and incites insurrection, riots, terrorism, or similar crimes, and prohibits the distribution of such content.

Additionally, the bill allows the Korea Communications Commission, after deliberation, to request financial companies to suspend payments from accounts related to profits obtained through the distribution of such illegal information. This is intended to block economic gains from the distribution of illegal content.

Furthermore, the amendment introduces strong penalties, including imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won for those who distribute illegal information, and establishes a legal basis for confiscating or recovering profits obtained through such acts.

Yang emphasized, "Spreading false information online to incite insurrection, riots, or terrorism is not merely manipulating public opinion, but a serious crime that directly threatens constitutional order and the rule of law," and added, "We must eradicate behaviors that cause social unrest and unjustly profit from them."

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