Online Loan Ads Require Pre-Review Before Platform Posting
IT DAILY ·
✦ Resumen de IA
The government on the 2nd held a TF meeting to root out illegal private lending and announced plans to push ahead with four additional institutional reforms.
The government decided to strengthen online advertising rules in response to illegal private lending shifting online and to non-face-to-face channels.
The government will push ahead with expanding pre-review for loan ads, introducing a reporting reward system, and considering undercover investigations.
On the 2nd, the government held a meeting of the pan-government task force (TF) to eradicate illegal private lending at the Government Complex Seoul, chaired by Kim Byeong-geun, head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, and announced plans to push ahead with four additional institutional reforms. The meeting was attended by the Financial Services Commission, the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecution Service, the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Financial Supervisory Service.
The government said illegal private lending operations are shifting online and to non-face-to-face channels, and decided to strengthen online advertising regulations. It explained that cases of approaching victims through SNS and other channels instead of face-to-face or telephone sales continue to occur.
The number of illegal private lending cases rose from 1,362 in 2021 to 5,519 last year. The government judged that illegal private lending has increased more than fourfold in 4 years.
Accordingly, the government plans to expand the scope of pre-review for loan advertisements to all online ads, and on the 2nd it reaffirmed its plan to require advertising media companies such as platforms to check whether pre-review by the Korea Loan Association has been completed before posting ads. Online platforms and other advertising media companies will be required to introduce a procedure to verify pre-review by the Korea Loan Association before posting loan ads, and the government plans to impose fines on media companies that violate the verification procedure.
The government plans to broaden the scope of loan ad management from existing media-centric oversight to the entire online space. The current scope of pre-review by the Korea Loan Association includes major daily newspapers, online ads, and TV video ads. The government plans to expand the pre-review target to all online ads and review not only ad content but also whether the lending company posting the ad is eligible.
Review items for assessing the eligibility of lending companies, which are the advertisers, include administrative sanctions history, business performance over the past 6 months, and whether a fixed place of business is actually being used. Based on these items, the government intends to examine the eligibility of lending companies seeking to place ads.
Accordingly, platforms and other advertising media companies must check whether pre-review by the Korea Loan Association has been completed before posting ads. Fines will be imposed for violations of the verification procedure. The government plans to pursue revisions to the Specialized Credit Finance Business Act, its enforcement decree, and the Korea Loan Association's ad review rules in the fourth quarter of this year.
The government also plans to introduce a reward system for reporting illegal online loan advertisements. The reward examples presented by the government are KRW 5,000 per report of an unreviewed ad or an ad violating the law, and KRW 500,000 per report of illegal business linked to illegal private lending.
In addition, the government will include online platforms' response system for illegal information among the inspection targets. The basis is the revised Network Act. Accordingly, large-scale information and communications service providers must establish self-operated policies that include procedures for reporting and handling illegal information, appeal procedures, measures taken against posters, and judgment criteria, and they must also disclose transparency reports.
To strengthen responses to illegal private lending, the government will jointly push ahead with platform self-regulation, expanded investigative techniques, encouraging victim reports, and improvements to investigative procedures. The Ministry of Science and ICT will operate a self-regulation consultative body for platform operators in the fourth quarter of this year. In the first half of next year, it plans to inspect the implementation performance of self-regulation, such as deleting and blocking illegal ads.
At the investigative stage, the government will review ways to introduce undercover investigations targeting illegal private lending crimes. It will consult relevant ministries on the possibility of applying undercover investigations used for digital sex crimes and drug crimes to illegal private lending. The government will immediately begin drafting amendments to the relevant Specialized Credit Finance Business Act.
The government sees concerns about punishment as a reason victims avoid reporting and will review measures for victims who were involved in illegal acts under the instructions or coercion of illegal private lenders, as well as victims who face concerns about punishment for separate illegal acts. The government plans to consult with related agencies such as the Prosecution Service and the police on the requirements and period for special voluntary surrender. In the first half of next year, it will also review a plan to operate a period encouraging victim reporting.
The government will dispatch police personnel to the Credit Counseling and Recovery Service in the fourth quarter of this year. Under the current procedure, police investigations begin after victim counseling at the integrated support center, review of materials by the Financial Supervisory Service, and a request for investigation. After the police are dispatched, the procedure will be changed so that if it is deemed necessary during counseling, a request for investigation can be made immediately.
The recommendation notice said that those exposed to damage from illegal private lending can report to the Financial Supervisory Service. It explained that the Financial Supervisory Service can be reached at ☎1332 and that necessary help can be obtained through a report.
It also said that if difficulties such as excessive debt arise, help can be obtained from the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency. The notice said the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency can be reached at ☎1397. It added that help is also available from the Credit Counseling and Recovery Service in cases of difficulties such as excessive debt, and said the service can be reached at ☎1600-5500.
The notice also stated that loan contracts with an annual interest rate above 60% are void for both principal and interest.
Source: IT DAILY · Kim Byeong-ju
Original: https://www.itdaily.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=241981
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Source: IT DAILY
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