South Korea Urged to Strengthen Big Tech Data Privacy Laws

As South Korea continues to advance its tightly interconnected broadband and mobile networks, the country’s approach to online privacy protection lags behind global standards. Despite being a tech-savvy nation, it struggles with a rising number of data leaks and hacking incidents affecting companies of all sizes, according to The Asian News.

One significant challenge South Korea faces in regulating tech giants like YouTube, Facebook, and X is their operational base outside of the country. This geographical divide makes it difficult for the South Korean government to impose and enforce local regulations or hold these platforms accountable for violating privacy laws, per The Asian News.

Pressure is mounting on the government and lawmakers to introduce stronger regulatory measures to manage digital platforms operated by international tech firms. However, despite ongoing discussions, no substantial progress has been made on this front.

The call for stricter regulations comes as other countries, such as the United States, take significant steps to address privacy concerns related to big tech companies. On Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law that will make it illegal for social media platforms to push addictive content to minors without parental consent starting in 2027. This legislation, aimed at curbing harmful social media practices, also includes provisions to protect children’s privacy by defaulting their accounts to private settings and restricting notifications during school hours. Newsom emphasized that the law would help protect young users from “purposely designed features that feed these destructive habits.”

Read more: Meta Fined by EU for Data Protection Breach

The law followed closely after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a damning report on the data collection practices of major social media platforms and streaming services. The FTC report detailed how big tech companies, including platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, engage in widespread surveillance of both users and nonusers, hoarding personal data for indefinite periods in pursuit of profit. According to the report, these practices include tracking users through algorithms and artificial intelligence, often without deleting data even after users request its removal.

The report from the FTC underscores the failure of self-regulation in the tech industry, urging authorities to step in and curb these practices. It also recommended that platform companies stop using invasive tracking technologies to safeguard user privacy.

While the U.S. and the European Union are ramping up regulations to tackle data privacy issues, South Korea has yet to follow suit. The Asian News pointed out that despite the growing number of tech-related problems in the country, regulatory efforts remain sluggish.

The urgency for reform was underscored in Seoul on Saturday, when over 6,000 people gathered for a protest demanding stronger legal actions against deepfake crimes. The demonstration highlighted how the rapid development of digital technologies has outpaced the country’s outdated regulatory framework, leaving citizens vulnerable to new forms of online exploitation.

Source: Asian News