Civic societies demanded that the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee provide a clear stance and explanation on 11 key issues across five categories, including whether disinformation should be subject to administrative review.
The open inquiry raises critical questions regarding the revision of the Network Act and its potential to infringe upon the freedom of expression. We question the legal basis for the National Assembly’s claim that the amendment will not lead to arbitrary censorship by administrative bodies, asking how the bill satisfies the constitutional principles of clarity and proportionality compared to past laws ruled unconstitutional. Furthermore, we demand a justification for why the bill’s “notice-and-action” system includes “disinformation”—going beyond the EU’s Digital Services Act, which focuses only on “illegal content”—and how they plan to prevent private platforms from engaging in “over-censorship” due to the difficulty of judging such complex information.
We also challenge the structural changes that would grant the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) dispute resolution powers, pointing out potential overlaps and conflicts with existing mediation bodies. Regarding punitive damages, they ask for a clear explanation of why legal liability is determined by the “influence” of the speaker and how the government intends to address international concerns that such measures could stifle the media’s watchdog role. Finally, the inquiry addresses the danger of labeling “online hate speech” as illegal information without having a general anti-discrimination law in place, warning that this could allow administrative authorities to arbitrarily suppress the legitimate protests and critical voices of social minorities.
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