“Increased Public Awareness of Digital Sexual Crimes”, by News1 Designer Kim Cho-hee
(Seoul=News1) Reporter Lee Ki-beom – Last year, it was reported that domestic and international internet companies such as Naver, Kakao, and Google deleted or blocked 180,000 pieces of illegal content, including sexual exploitation materials. This represents more than a twofold increase compared to the previous year. The rise is attributed to an increase in reports of digital sexual crimes and more proactive measures taken by service providers.
On the 4th, the Korea Communications Commission released the “2024 Transparency Report on the Handling of Illegal Recordings.”
This report includes content from 81 internet companies, such as Naver, Kakao, Google, and Meta, detailing how they handled illegal recordings like sexual exploitative content and child and youth sexual exploitation materials, in accordance with laws such as the “Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes” and the “Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sexual Offenses.”
According to the report, last year, internet companies received 231,261 reports of illegal recordings and removed or blocked access to 181,204 of them. Compared to the previous year, the number of reports increased by 59.7%, and the number of deletions and accesses blocked rose by 122.1%.
The Korea Communications Commission explained, “The rise in digital sexual crime reports reflects an increased public awareness of these issues, prompting companies to take more active measures to prevent the distribution of such information.”
The report also provides insights into each company’s processes for receiving and handling reports of illegal recordings, efforts to prevent distribution, the procedures in place for managing this, and the designation and training of responsible parties.
The subjects of this report include SNS platforms, online communities, personal broadcasting sites, portals, and webhard businesses with either over 1 billion KRW in sales or 100,000 average daily users.
The Korea Communications Commission stated that to minimize digital sexual crime damage, they will continue to conduct on-site inspections and provide training to those responsible at internet service providers, ensuring they are implementing technical and managerial measures like filtering.