Sarah Rogers (above), Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, and her post uploaded on X. [Photo=X]

The United States has officially expressed its stance on the "Fake Information Eradication Act (amendment to the Information and Communications Network Act)," recently passed by the National Assembly and the Cabinet under the leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Sarah Rogers, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, stated on social media platform X on the 30th (local time) that the "Fake Information Eradication Act," which passed the South Korean Cabinet, "threatens technological cooperation between the two countries by granting censorship authority to the South Korean government."

Under Secretary Rogers said, "The South Korean government's amendment to the Network Act, which superficially appears to focus on addressing defamation via deepfakes, encompasses much broader content and threatens technological cooperation."

She added, "While deepfakes are understandably a concerning issue, it is better to provide civil remedies to victims rather than granting regulatory authorities the power of viewpoint-based censorship."

The Fake Information Eradication Act, scheduled to take effect in July of next year, primarily mandates compensation of up to five times the amount of damages for intentional dissemination of illegal or fake information, knowing it to be such.

Furthermore, it allows platform operators to take various autonomous measures for illegal, fake, or manipulated information, including △deletion △access restriction △account suspension △monetization restriction △service suspension.

In response, various sectors within South Korea have raised concerns that the criteria for identifying fake information are ambiguous, leading to actual judgment by the government or related agencies. The U.S. Department of State also views this as "granting censorship authority" to regulatory bodies.

This is the first time the U.S. government has stated its position on South Korea's Fake Information Eradication Act.

Meanwhile, on the 23rd, the United States banned the entry of five individuals, including former senior officials of the European Union (EU), which has led legislative efforts to regulate U.S. Big Tech.

At the time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated in a press release that the reason for the ban was that "the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) has systematically pressured U.S. online platform companies (YouTube, X, Google, etc.) through censorship and by restricting their monetization."

The reason for the U.S.'s swift reaction to the Fake Information Eradication Act, processed under the leadership of the Democratic Party, is reportedly because the law also targets American online platforms such as YouTube, X, and Google as regulatory subjects.

Reporter Lim Yo-hee