South Korea has said it has reached an agreement with Google to take down its results when a Korean court issues takedown orders for defamation, a deal that a local news source said could impact other Western tech giants. The agreement between the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT and Google began in August and was signed on Thursday. It will not cover all cases, however, as Google has discretion over which orders it will comply with and can refuse if the request is unclear, excessive, or lacks legal basis. The ministry said Google had agreed to process all takedown requests within 48 hours to remove search results.
South Korean courts can issue takedown orders for search results for information they deem to be defamatory. In one of the most notorious cases, the daughter of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun sued Google for continuing to show search results for a news article on her father’s alleged sexual abuse of her, even after the article was ruled by a court to be false. In 2020, Google’s Korean branch was fined $28,000 for failing to comply with a takedown order from the wife of a former lawmaker who claimed an article linking her to an online gambling investigation was defamatory. The same year, the head of Google Korea was questioned by police over Google’s refusal to comply with a takedown order from the wife of a former politician over a YouTube video about the couple’s divorce.
The issue of defamation law in South Korea is a complex one, with critics arguing that it is too broad and open to abuse. In 2020, a UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression criticized South Korea’s defamation laws, saying they were “not compatible with international standards.” The government has argued that the laws are necessary to protect people’s reputations, but critics say they are often used to silence dissent and criticism of public figures.
The agreement between Google and the South Korean government is likely to be welcomed by some, who argue that it will help to protect people’s reputations from online defamation. However, others are concerned that it could lead to further censorship and suppression of free speech in South Korea.
It remains to be seen how the agreement will be implemented and whether it will have a wider impact on other Western tech giants operating in South Korea. The deal could potentially set a precedent for other countries to demand that Google remove search results that are deemed to be defamatory, which could have a significant impact on the way that information is accessed and shared online..
