South Korea’s Revised Network Act Takes Effect, Raising Penalties for Online Disinformation

Amendments to South Korea’s Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection took effect on July 7, tightening rules against online disinformation, according to Jiemian News. Under the revised law, users who intentionally spread false information or tamper with online information can be held liable for damages of up to five times the actual loss. Repeat offenders whose content is deemed illegal by a court can face fines of up to 1 billion won. The law also requires domestic platforms NAVER and Kakao, as well as overseas platforms including Google and Meta, to set up dedicated reporting channels for false information and publish transparency reports every six months detailing the number of reports received and how they were handled.