Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) speaks to reporters as he arrives for a Home Republican convention assembly on Capitol Hill on March, 6 2024 in Washington, DC.
Kent Nishimura | Getty Pictures
House Judiciary Committee Republicans despatched a letter to the South Korea‘s Media and Communications Fee on Thursday expressing their concern over not too long ago adopted on-line rules they are saying might permit the federal government to censor free speech and assault opposing viewpoints.
The letter, reported first by CNBC, requires a briefing from South Korean officers on their plans to implement an modification to the nation’s existing data privacy law, which took impact in July and has been dubbed the “faux information” regulation. It permits the federal government to difficulty fines to media shops and content material publishers with greater than 100,000 subscribers in the event that they deliberately unfold false data.
“This modification serves as a serious menace to on-line speech and expression and would permit the KMCC to punish American firms and their customers for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” the lawmakers, together with Home Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote.
Reps. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., additionally signed the letter.
The South Korean Embassy in Washington didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Thursday.
The modification, which was adopted by the Korean National Assembly as a part of the nation’s Info and Communications Community Act in December, goals to “defend residents from the harms of unlawful and fabricated false data,” in accordance with a July assertion from the chairman of the KMCC.
Publishers who’re discovered to have violated the regulation might face a penalty of as much as 1 billion received, or greater than $700,000.
However, in accordance with Jordan and his Judiciary colleagues, the regulation doesn’t clearly outline “false data” and may very well be utilized by the federal government to focus on “politically disfavored opinions.” It is also confronted opposition from journalists and civil liberties groups in South Korea.
“No international authorities ought to have the ability to strain American firms into censoring constitutionally protected speech,” Fitzgerald mentioned in a press release. “South Korea’s so-called ‘false data’ regulation is imprecise, expansive, and ripe for abuse. Congress will proceed analyzing efforts by international governments to export censorship and undermine Individuals’ First Modification freedoms on-line.”
The lawmakers additionally mentioned the modification “is particularly geared toward American firms,” together with YouTube, owned by Google’s father or mother firm, Alphabet. The implementation of the modification and the Home Judiciary letter come amid heightened financial tensions between the 2 key buying and selling companions.
South Korea was certainly one of dozens of nations on which President Donald Trump imposed new tariffs final week over alleged compelled labor practices. And the Home Judiciary Committee in July released a report alleging discrimination by the South Korean authorities in opposition to Coupang, a U.S.-based on-line retailer that does the majority of its enterprise in Asia.
The committee below Jordan’s management has devoted vital time to the specter of international regulation on censoring free speech and stifling U.S. innovation. The committee has launched multiple reports on the European Union’s Digital Companies Act, a complete authorized framework adopted in 2022 that units strict guidelines for on-line content material. That regulation has resulted in fresh scrutiny for U.S. companies like Google and Anthropic.
Based on the letter, the South Korean modification is instantly associated to the Digital Companies Act.
“South Korea appears to be following within the EU’s footsteps, adopting laws modeled instantly on the DSA,” the lawmakers wrote.
