U.S. House Republicans criticize Korea's revised communications law, request meeting

WASHINGTON — Several Republican members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, notably its chair, Jim Jordan, expressed concerns on Thursday about Korea’s revised network act and its potential impact on U.S. companies.

They requested an official government briefing on the revised Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection — which took effect on July 7 — in a letter to Kim Jong-cheol, the chairman of the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC).

The move puts Korea’s online platform regulations under scrutiny in the U.S. Congress, as trade tensions between Korea and the United States continue over trade and diplomatic issues.

“This amendment serves as a major threat to online speech and expression and would allow the KMCC to punish American companies and their users for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” Jordan and Republican Reps. Scott Fitzgerald, Darrell Issa and Michael Baumgartner wrote in the letter.

The lawmakers took particular issue with what they described as ambiguity in the legislation, which the National Assembly passed on Dec. 24, 2025.

“The vagueness and lack of clarity around the scope of this amendment raise serious concerns about how it could be used to censor politically disfavored opinions and about its chilling effect on free speech and online expression.”

They also argued that the legislation does not clearly define what constitutes false information or provide sufficient details on how the law will be enforced.

Additionally, they claimed that the revised legislation appears to target U.S. platforms.

The law reportedly applies to content creators with at least 100,000 subscribers or 100,000 average monthly views and large platforms with at least 1 million daily users.

The lawmakers stated that the “vast majority” of platforms that meet those criteria — such as  Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube — are U.S. companies.

They also noted that Korean authorities intend to enforce the legislation without providing a grace period. U.S. platforms could therefore be required to remove posts that the Korean government deems “false or manipulated” or face substantial fines and other penalties.

The lawmakers then argued that the amendment was modeled after the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA).

“The Committee highlighted how the [EU] has used the [DSA] to control online platforms’ global practices and infringe on the speech rights of American citizens,” the lawmakers wrote. “South Korea seems to be following in the EU’s footsteps, adopting legislation modeled directly on the DSA.”

They cited Korea’s ruling Democratic Party’s push to introduce a “Korean version of the DSA” when it pursued the amendment in September 2025.

The lawmakers concluded the letter by requesting a briefing from Korean authorities on how the amended law will be enforced.

“We write to respectfully note our concerns with South Korea’s recent amendment to the Information and Communications Network Act,” the lawmakers wrote. “Please arrange for this briefing as soon as possible.”

The letter specified that the meeting should take place no later than 10 a.m. on Aug. 20, Eastern Time.

The amendment at issue strengthens online platforms’ responsibility to manage illegal, false and manipulated information and increases civil and criminal penalties for the deliberate dissemination of false information.

Courts can order users who intentionally spread such information online to pay up to five times the amount of incurred damages.

Platforms that repeatedly circulate content confirmed to contain illegal, false or manipulated information can face administrative fines of up to 1 billion won ($705,000).

Media organizations, civil society groups and domestic and foreign tech companies have expressed concerns about the legislation before and after it took effect.

Critics of the revision argue that the definitions of false and manipulated information are unclear, which could lead to arbitrary enforcement and ultimately threaten freedom of expression.

The letter is the latest in a series of challenges from the U.S. House Judiciary Committee against Korea’s regulation on the digital industry.

The U.S. committee released a report titled “Closed for Competition: South Korea’s Discriminatory Attacks on American-owned Businesses” on July 1, which accused the Korean government of discriminatory regulation against U.S. companies — especially Coupang.

All four Republicans who signed the latest letter have previously criticized the Korean government’s treatment of Coupang.

In June, Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission fined the company 642.68 billion won and imposed an additional administrative fine of 16.8 million won over a major data breach that leaked the personal information of over 33 million users last November.

Jordan and Rep. Fitzgerald, the chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust, spearheaded the report released on July 1.

Rep. Issa, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet, and Rep. Baumgartner separately led a letter signed by 54 Republican lawmakers in April. The letter urged Korean Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha to end what they described as discriminatory treatment of Coupang.

Rep. Baumgartner has also introduced legislation that would restrict entry into the United States by foreign government officials who discriminate against U.S. companies.

In a separate letter on Thursday, Rep. Fitzgerald argued that no foreign government should have the power to pressure U.S. companies into censoring constitutionally protected speech.

Korea’s so-called disinformation law is vague, overly broad and ripe for abuse, according to Fitzgerald. The lawmaker emphasized that the U.S. Congress will continue to closely scrutinize foreign governments’ attempts to undermine the United States’ First Amendment right to free speech.

BY KIM HYOUNG-GU [lee.jiwon10@joongang.co.kr]