Nina Jobst
Research expert covering South Korea
Internet freedom in South Korea - statistics & facts
Despite having one of the best internet connections worldwide, South Korea maintains a considerable level of online censorship and content regulation. Both internationally and in the Asia-Pacific region, it does not rank highly in terms of internet freedom.While the country is very well-connected to the web and the population consists of heavy internet users, content restrictions exist. In fact, South Korea was likely the first country to officially pass an internet censorship law with the Telecommunications Business Act (TBA) in 1995. Nowadays, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) is responsible for a multitude of media regulations, including the internet.
What is the nature of South Korean content limitations?
Worldwide, the discussion about content regulations on social media is high. Should a social media platform be allowed to delete certain content, and is it even a responsibility? In South Korea, content regulations affect the internet as a whole. In short, any content that is considered harmful or subversive by the government can be removed, and increasingly more websites have been reported over the years. In the early stages of internet censorship in South Korea, political powers tended to add or redirect control over information. Some of the main targets of politically motivated censorship remain websites connected to North Korea. Content limitations and restrictions can go from simply blocking access to or taking down the content, to imposing fines or even further legal sanctions. Pornography is illegal in South Korea, which is why access to certain websites is blocked. However, pornographic material can still be circulated and accessed via social media because of the degree of difficulty in censoring these larger platforms.Current topics regarding South Korea’s internet censorship
Social media has accordingly become a place where otherwise illegal content, restricted opinions, and harmful comments can be published. Recently, AI-generated pornographic deepfake images have become an issue. However, both the South Korean government and victims of such criminal materials act fast to request it being taken down. The exchange in internet chatting rooms is particularly hard to monitor and clashes with the right to privacy and data protection. For other social media content, short-form videos for example, there is even a societal want for content regulation.The future of South Korean internet censorship
The South Korean internet has often faced the tightening of regulations in the past, depending on the administration. While fights against internet censorship still happen on a smaller scale, the South Korean population does not openly disagree with most limitations in place. However, the government came under scrutiny for examining user data packets to block access to various porn and gambling websites in 2019 and was heavily criticized for this. Most current content restrictions are likely to remain, especially those with political motivators. Despite these efforts, not everything can be censored. South Koreans who use social media, which suffers the least from restrictions, still have the chance to somewhat circumvent far-reaching censorship.
