Twitch Fined 435 Million Won For South Korea Service Suspension

(CTN News) – Twitch, which suspended its video-on-demand (VOD) service in South Korea last year, was fined 435 million won (US$327,000) Friday by South Korea’s telecommunications watchdog.

The operator of the service, Twitch Interactive Inc., reduced the video quality in South Korea from 1080p to 720p in September 2022 and terminated the VOD service five months later following that.

During its investigation into the suspension of the VOD service, the Korea Telecommunications Commission (KCC) found that it was in violation of the local telecommunications law by undermining the interests of users.

In an effort to determine whether had a justified reason for limiting the maximum view quality, the commission has sought relevant data from Twitch, but has declined the request citing contractual confidentiality obligations as the reason.

A further fine of 15 million won was also imposed by the KCC for its failure to implement a system to prevent the distribution of illegal footage on their platform.

As a result, Twitch was not able to prove that livestreaming and VOD services are not independent telecommunications services and that the suspension that was implemented was a necessary business decision to continue to provide the service in Korea.

Among the corrective measures that have been ordered by the KCC, Twitch has been ordered to disclose the receipt of these orders as well as to take preventive measures before resuming its business activities in Korea in the future.

In addition, Twitch was instructed to prepare a wide range of user protection measures, including refunds, as the company is scheduled to close its Korean operations at the end of this month.

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