Meta said it would comply if protective measures such as limits on teenagers’ social media use time are legislated in South Korea. It also decided to conduct an internal review of harmful content that could be exposed to teenagers through Instagram Reels and other services.
Heo Wook (허욱), a vice president at Meta Korea, appeared as a witness at an audit of the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on Oct. 6. Asked by Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Jeong-a (황정아) whether limits on teens’ social media use would apply domestically, he said, “If it is set by legislation in Korea, we are sufficiently willing to follow it.”
Meta also said consultation procedures are needed so the company can convey its views during the process of establishing such a system in Korea. He said, “I hope there will be an opportunity to give our views through various consultations with the government or the National Assembly.”
The questioning focused on whether teen protection measures Meta decided to implement in the United States could be applied in Korea. Hwang said Meta agreed in August with U.S. state governments on steps including limiting teenagers’ daily use to 2 hours and blocking late-night access, and said safety devices should be applied at the service level in Korea as well.
The point was to establish mechanisms at the service level to limit use time and access time rather than leaving teens’ platform use solely to individual self-restraint. Meta, in effect, said it would comply if related standards are set by law in Korea.
Instagram Reels harmful content also to be reviewed; results to be reported to parliament
In addition to teens’ social media use time, harmful content spreading through short-form videos was also raised as an issue in the audit.
Hwang said provocative internet broadcast content, such as so-called “Excel broadcasts” that compete over sponsorship rankings, is being exposed to teenagers through YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. She said platform-level protective measures should be strengthened as videos have even emerged of elementary school students copying such content.
There was also a call to examine the structure through which harmful information reaches teenagers and to enhance protective measures, rather than working with global platform operators and review bodies to block content uniformly.
Hwang asked Meta to examine on its own the status of harmful information exposed to teenagers on its platforms, then report the results to parliament and take necessary improvement measures.
He said, “I 100 percent sympathise with concerns that teenagers must be protected from harmful content,” and added, “I also actively sympathise with advancing protective measures, and we will separately report the results of an internal review and continuously improve.”
