South Korea Starts Enforcing Law Allowing Damages for Court-Confirmed False Information

South Korea began enforcing a law Tuesday that allows courts to award damages of up to five times proven losses against news organizations and large social media channels for circulating illegal, false or manipulated information to cause harm or generate profit.

The law permits fines of up to 1 billion won ($656,000) by the Korea Media and Communications Commission against those who distribute information more than twice after a court has confirmed it to be false or manipulated. Internet companies operating large social media platforms with more than 1 million daily users must remove content or suspend user accounts upon receiving reports of false or fabricated information.

The law was passed by South Korea’s National Assembly in December over a boycott by the conservative opposition. President Lee Jae Myung’s liberal Democratic Party backed the law. The push for the measure followed concerns about online discourse after then-President Yoon Suk Yeol briefly imposed martial law in 2024.

Yoon was later impeached and removed from office. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for rebellion, a ruling he appealed in February. The Korea Media and Communications Commission stated last week that private operators, not the government, decide whether reported content qualifies as false or manipulated information.

The commission added that the law exempts reporting conducted in the public interest from damages claims. ” The group stated that even if a law’s objective is legitimate, it could erode the foundations of democracy if enforced in a way that discourages the media and ordinary citizens from freely criticizing those in power.