On October 14th, during the National Assembly’s Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee’s audit in Yeouido, Seoul, Kakao Vice President Woo Young-kyu, Coupang CEO Park Dae-jun, Korea TV Home Shopping Association President Lee Sang-rok, and KT Vice President Lee Hyun-seok, among other attendees, took an oath.
Amidst user criticism following KakaoTalk’s recent major update, Kakao has stated that reverting to the previous version is not possible. Kakao Vice President Woo Young-kyu confirmed at the National Assembly hearing that rolling back KakaoTalk to its earlier version was “technically impossible” in response to a question from Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Jung-a. He acknowledged user discomfort and assured that improvements would be made soon.
Regarding allegations that the app was not restored due to ad revenue, Woo denied the claims, stating they were not true despite external belief. He also addressed criticisms about exposing minors to unregulated ‘short-form’ content and unauthorized data collection, stating that they are following the guidelines of the Personal Information Protection Commission.
Kakao announced plans to restore the Friends tab to display the ‘friend list’ on the first screen by the fourth quarter and move feed-style posts to a separate ‘news’ menu. This comes after a major update last month, which included changing the main screen Friends tab to a feed style and emphasizing short-form features, marking the first overhaul in 15 years and leading to a strong backlash from users.