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Social Media Law In South Korea: Reconciling Free Speech With National Security And Social Values

Sat, June 11, 14:00 to 15:15, Fukuoka Hilton, Kaede

Abstract

SNS users in South Korea have confronted censorship issues arising from sociopolitical tensions with freedom of speech. In 2007, the National Assembly passed the real-name verification law, which would require major website operators to verify their users’ real names. The Constitutional Court of Korea struck down the law in 2012 on the ground that it constituted prior censorship. Twitter and other social media have had difficulty navigating the inherent conflict between online free speech and national security in Korea. A Twitter user who re-tweeted posts from a North Korean account for fun was arrested on charges of violating the National Security Act. Korean law punishes online defamation more severely than offline defamation. Nonetheless, criminal online defamation has been on the rapid increase in recent years. Koreans’ experience with social media law illustrate how challenging it is to balance free speech with its competing individual and social values.

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