With the enforcement of the so-called Anti-Disinformation Law (a revision to the Network Act) just one day away, domestic platform companies are moving to establish their own operating policies to curb the distribution of false and manipulated information.
Naver announced through a notice on Wednesday that it would revise its posting operation policy. The move is intended to establish procedures for receiving and processing reports of illegal and disinformation content in line with the enforcement of the revised Network Act, and to reflect changes in related laws. Earlier, Kakao and Daum also revised their service operating policies, including adding the distribution of disinformation to their list of prohibited acts. These platform operators announced that they would comply with the guidelines of the Korea Internet Self-governance Organization (KISO) as their detailed judgment criteria.
The revision to the Network Act, which takes effect on the seventh of this month, contains provisions for punitive damages for the distribution of disinformation. The law defines information that incites violence or discrimination and fosters hatred on the grounds of race, nationality, region, gender, disability, age, or religion as illegal information. It applies to large-scale platform operators with an average of at least 1 million daily users over the three months prior to the end of the previous year.
However, the revision requires platform operators to establish specific judgment and action criteria on their own. In response, KISO, whose members include Naver and Kakao, announced self-regulatory guidelines containing criteria for judging disinformation on the 19th of last month.
Still, voices in the industry remain concerned about practical confusion. Critics point out that because the revision does not grant the government direct review authority over disinformation, it shifts the responsibility for judgment and the burden of sensitive actions entirely onto private operators.
"The criteria for judging the concept of 'disinformation' are unclear, so considerable confusion over interpretation is expected once the law takes effect," an industry official said. "Reckless lawsuits could proliferate until various cases accumulate and reference points are established."
Another problem cited is that the regulatory standard applies at the "operator level" rather than to individual services. Because a large platform company becomes immediately subject to regulation even when it launches new information-mediating services such as social media, online communities, or video sharing, there are concerns that this could hinder innovation in the digital ecosystem.
As legal uncertainty grows, voices calling for minimum safeguards to protect platform operators are gaining traction. The Korea Internet Corporations Association stressed that "a predictable legal environment will be created only if explicit exemption clauses are established within the enforcement decree, so that platform companies can review and act on reported content in good faith without being harassed by malicious lawsuit threats."
