The so-called 'Fake News Punishment Act (Information and Communications Network Act Amendment)' will be fully implemented in July. 

The so-called 'Fake News Punishment Act (Information and Communications Network Act Amendment)' will be fully implemented in July. 

In line with this, the Korea Internet Self-governance Organization (KISO), with the participation of Naver and Kakao, has released self-regulatory guidelines to block false and fabricated information. 

The stated intention to prevent AI deepfakes and eradicate malicious false information is quite smooth and polished. The measure to cleverly exclude personal messengers like KakaoTalk and email from the regulatory net, citing avoidance of private censorship controversy, is also astute.

However, if we peel back this wrapping and dryly dissect the operational principles within, a truly bizarre and dangerous blueprint for a control society is revealed. We must read the deception of immense power concealed behind the word 'self-governance'.

First, let's dismantle the logic behind 'large community image censorship,' which has been subtly inserted under the guise of preventing deepfakes and digital crimes. The words sound plausible. Yet, any person with common sense would immediately burst into laughter.

Would real criminals be foolish enough to post illegal manipulated content or deepfakes on large public communities frequented by millions of people? They have long since hidden in overseas closed messengers like Telegram or in their own secret, small-scale, decentralized communities to thoroughly evade tracking.

While unable to touch real criminals who evade police investigations, why meticulously scrutinize the bulletin boards of large communities? The objective is clear. Crime prevention is merely a flimsy excuse; the actual aim is to pre-emptively control satirical memes about power and raw public opinion generated by ordinary citizens gathered in the public square.

It is a chilling scheme to pretend to catch bedbugs while actually installing a surveillance camera in the middle of the square to spy on citizens' daily lives.

The standards for text censorship of false and fabricated information they propose are even more extreme. 'Intention to gain unfair profits,' 'infringement of others' personality rights,' and 'infringement of public interest.' Who exactly is the judge who can delineate truth from falsehood in such a swamp of abstract and subjective language?

It is neither the courts nor the investigative agencies. It is the portal platform companies, private enterprises pursuing their own interests. If the state directly intervenes and suppresses freedom of expression, it will fall into the framework of dictatorship, so they have handed over the reins of censorship under the guise of private contracts called 'Terms of Service' by giant platforms. This is the most sophisticated 'outsourcing of censorship' conceived by left-wing power.

It is obvious how this system, disguised as self-governance, will operate in reality. No platform wants to offend the ruling party, which occupies a majority in the National Assembly and frequently summons corporate executives to hearings for public shaming.

If a right-wing YouTuber or citizen raises suspicions of corruption against Lee Jae-myung, the platform will label it as 'infringement of personality rights' or 'false and fabricated information' and immediately delete it or restrict its exposure. Conversely, the demonization and fabrication directed at the right-wing by left-wing speakers will be generously overlooked under the guise of 'freedom of expression' or 'satire.'

This is a ploy for the government to stand idly by and say, "The government has not infringed on individual freedoms, and the deletion of posts is a 'voluntary' decision by the company." The more ambiguous the standards, the more the companies holding the reins of power will lean towards the ruling power.

Looking back at the historical context, even a wry smile feels wasted. Who are the ones most loudly calling for the severe punishment of 'fake news' in South Korea today?

It is those who shouted "brain-piercing, hole-ridden" during the mad cow disease hysteria, who profited from the theory of the intentional sinking of the Sewol ferry, and who have built a towering edifice of lies as easily as breathing, from the cellist's drinking party to the recent 'salmon drinking party.'

Those who sprouted the seeds of power on the fertile soil of fake news are now trying to control the one-person media and common-sense speakers in the public square that pierce their own flaws. The first act of a fascist who has seized power is to set up checkpoints on the path of the revolution they have traversed and to muzzle others' mouths.

This shallow control network, disguised as crime prevention and the eradication of fake news, is the perfect descent of George Orwell's 'Ministry of Truth.'

The moment this legal 'gagging' is completed, using corporate terms of service as a weapon to monopolize truth, South Korea's public sphere of discourse will be reduced to a vast sterile chamber and prison where only texts permitted by Lee Jae-myung and the left-wing regime will float around.

The sharpest sword that oppresses freedom always approaches with the most tender whisper, saying, 'We will protect you from danger.'

◆ Park Ju-hyun, Writer

Composer, music director, columnist, and essayist. She actively expresses her opinions on political, current affairs, and social issues on Facebook, gaining resonance with many. She published the essay collection 'Crossing the Stormy Sea.'