Seven out of ten digital platform users are calling for regulatory improvements regarding price increases and the sending of unwanted advertising messages.
This finding comes from a survey conducted by the office of Lee Jeong-heon, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, in collaboration with the Seoul YMCA Citizen Mediation Center. The survey involved approximately 2,000 participants.
Respondents expressed a growing burden from the continuously rising fees of digital platform services. Among those who subscribe to paid digital platform services, six out of ten stated that the fees are too high, while only 13.7% considered them affordable.
Regarding price increases, users believe that institutional measures such as advance notice are necessary. A significant 70.8% agreed that laws and regulations should be improved to require platform operators to notify users in advance when reporting service terms or increasing fees.
The receipt of advertising messages through platforms was also identified as a major inconvenience. The survey revealed that three out of four KakaoTalk users have experienced receiving unwanted promotional messages.
Kakao's brand messaging operates by matching user information held by advertisers with Kakao's member data. This raises concerns as users can receive advertising messages regardless of whether they explicitly consented to receive them via KakaoTalk. There are also instances where users receive advertising messages from KakaoTalk channels they did not add themselves.
Among survey participants, 55% deemed it inappropriate for individual companies to send advertising messages via KakaoTalk without the explicit consent of users.
Lee stated, "The responsibility for obtaining explicit consent for brand messaging should not rest solely with advertisers. The government must closely examine Kakao's responsibility in utilizing personal data received from advertisers for indiscriminate advertising and demand that Kakao establish user protection measures, such as an 'advertising consent procedure.'"
* This article has been translated by AI.
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