The government has warned Google that it will face legal consequences if it is found to have illegally leaked information regarding digital sex crime victims' requests for video removal to external sites.
During a briefing at the Government Seoul Complex on September 11, Minister of Gender Equality and Family Won Min-kyung stated, "We are closely reviewing the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, the Telecommunications Business Act, and the Information and Communications Network Act in conjunction with the Korea Communications Commission. If any illegalities are confirmed, Google will be held legally accountable."
According to the Ministry, it was confirmed that some information submitted by digital sex crime victims and support organizations to Google for the removal of harmful videos was unlawfully disclosed on external sites on August 25.
This included personal identifiable information such as the victims' names, ages, workplaces, schools, and phone numbers, as well as details describing their victimization. Some of the removal requests that should not have been shared externally were leaked through Google.
Minister Won emphasized, "Victims request the removal of their videos with a desperate hope that they will no longer spread. If sensitive information and removal requests submitted during that process are made public in another space, it constitutes a serious matter that inflicts further harm on the victims."
She added, "I want to make it clear to Google that this is not a trivial issue that can be dismissed as a mere system error or mistake. Google must take the seriousness of this matter to heart and demonstrate accountability to the victims and the public."
Furthermore, she stated, "For platforms like Google that have immense global influence, the responsibility to protect and handle victims' sensitive information is even greater. I will ensure that effective measures to prevent recurrence are established and actually implemented."
The site in question is one that collects data to prevent the arbitrary deletion of user data by large platforms, which could lead to censorship or suppression of freedom of expression.
Google has stated that it had no other sites to which the controversial data was sent and has apologized to the victims regarding the incident. The company remarked, "It is our principle not to share victim information with that site, and we requested the removal of the data from the database as soon as we confirmed that some information had been unintentionally shared without being deleted."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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