Companies and politicians deleting criticism from the Net

[Hankyoreh, October 23 2008]

Law provision allowing ‘defamatory’ Internet posts to be deleted is increasingly being abused by those in power

In a growing number of cases, the provision allowing portal sites to temporarily delete Internet posts accused of being defamatory is being abused by power groups like big business conglomerates and members of the National Assembly.


The Communication Decency Act stipulates that “when it is hard to determine whether an Internet post infringes on the rights of others, or when a fight over its legitimacy is expected,” a portal site may prevent access to the content within a period of 30 days.