Republic of Korea: Constitutional Court dismissed petitions in constitutional review of technical and administrative measures for preventing the distribution of illegally filmed materials (2021Hun-Ma290, 2021Hun-Ma1521)

On 23 October 2025, the Constitutional Court ruled in case 2021Hun-Ma290, with case 2021Hun-Ma1521 consolidated into it, concerning constitutional petitions challenging Article 22-5, Paragraph 2 of the Telecommunications Business Act (Act No. 17352, amended 9 June 2020) and Article 30-6, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Telecommunications Business Act (Presidential Decree No. 31223, amended 8 December 2020), which impose obligations on value-added telecommunications service providers to implement technical and administrative measures to prevent the distribution of illegally filmed materials. The Constitutional Court held that these obligations do not infringe freedom of expression or freedom of communication and dismissed the constitutional challenge to the above provisions. The Court dismissed the remaining petitions concerning Article 22-5, Paragraph 1 of the former Telecommunications Business Act, Article 95-2, Paragraph 1-3 of the Telecommunications Business Act, and Article 44-7, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1 and Paragraphs 2 and 3 of the former Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilisation and Information Protection as inadmissible for reasons including untimely filing, lack of self-relevance, or lack of direct infringement.