Ruling Party Moves to Force Ride-Hailing Platforms to Submit Operating Data

South Korea's ruling party is pushing legislation that would require ride-hailing platforms to submit key operating data, including call volumes and dispatch times, to the government.

The regulation targets taxi-hailing services such as Kakao Mobility and Uber, and is expected to draw criticism that the state is excessively controlling private companies' business assets. As policies continue to tighten restrictions on platform companies, concerns are mounting both inside and outside the industry that "a second Tada crisis could unfold."

According to political sources on the 9th, Rep. Park Yong-gap of the Democratic Party of Korea plans to introduce an amendment to the Taxi Transport Business Development Act containing these provisions. The core of the bill would forcibly incorporate various transportation data held by private taxi platforms into the public data system.

If passed, Kakao Mobility, Uber and other companies would be required to provide key operating metrics—including taxi call volumes, fares and dispatch success rates—to the government and local authorities. Non-compliance would result in fines of up to 5 million won.

Rep. Park explained the rationale: "Under current law, platform companies have no obligation to submit operating information, making it difficult to calculate key indicators needed for policy decisions."

However, contrary to the legislative intent of "securing data for industry promotion," the industry views this as excessive regulation that shakes the foundation of the platform ecosystem. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Taxi Operation Information Management System (TIMS) and the Mobility Innovation Act already allow authorities to manage related indicators.

Critics point out that creating new data submission requirements and penalties specifically for taxi platforms, despite existing systems, constitutes duplicate regulation. Concerns have also been raised that the move could pour cold water on the recent cooperative atmosphere between Kakao Mobility and taxi groups ahead of the autonomous driving era.

Controversy is also emerging over "property rights infringement"—the forced incorporation of operating data that companies built through massive capital and technology investments into public data. One industry official criticized: "If the government collects core assets embodying individual platforms' algorithmic know-how without any basis for compensation, private sector innovation will be severely hindered."

The possibility of trade secret leaks is another concern. Under current law, public data is in principle open to the private sector, meaning core business strategies could be fully exposed to competitors.

Prof. Kim Hyun-kyung of Seoul National University of Science and Technology noted: "Once data is converted to a public good, anyone can use assets that companies accumulated through innovative services without permission. This amounts to tolerating free-riding and will ultimately break companies' will to innovate."

Wariness is growing that the government and ruling party's policy direction—focused solely on strengthening control over platform companies—could weaken national industrial competitiveness.

A law banning fees on street-hailing services targeting taxi platforms is set to take effect in May. The so-called "Doctor Now Prevention Act," which would prohibit telemedicine platforms from concurrently operating pharmaceutical wholesale businesses, is also awaiting plenary passage. Last month, an amendment to the Living Logistics Service Industry Development Act mandating the use of delivery riders' biometric information was also introduced.

One industry official lamented: "These regulations are shackles that don't even apply to foreign big tech companies. In the end, reverse discrimination that only strangles domestic homegrown platform companies keeps repeating."