The ‘Special Committee on Fandom and Democracy’ (Special Committee on Fandom) under the National Integration Committee under the direct control of the President added one-person media as a target for press mediation in response to extreme political phenomena and compensated for damages to so-called ‘fake news’ such as ‘one-stop response portal’ suggested simplification. While acknowledging the limitations of the term ‘fake news’, which has an unclear definition, the fandom special committee cited ‘suspicion of a drinking party in Cheongdam-dong’ and ‘the problem of discharge of contaminated water in Fukushima’ as examples.
The fandom special committee, which was launched in October of last year, proposed eight policies in three areas: voters, media, and political parties at the briefing room of the Seoul Government Complex on the 7th. In the field of voters, the special committee proposed a ‘Digital Citizenship Declaration’ draft that prohibits the formation of collective public opinion such as coordinate shooting and text bombing, and demanded the enactment and revision of laws related to hate speech to prevent extreme confrontation online.
The special committee defines the most serious problem in Korean society as ‘fandom politics’ represented by ‘fake news’, establishes a ‘one-stop response portal’ that guides appropriate remedy from application for damage relief, and media platform users such as individual YouTubers to the media. It was proposed to add to the subject of mediation. Then, it insisted on the mandatory submission of a ‘transparency report’ by information and communication service providers on ‘false fabricated information’ and the establishment of a voluntary joint regulatory model for private entities (platform companies, etc.) to prevent fake news revenue generation.
‘Fake news’ is a word with no clear definition. In the academic world, in order to prevent misuse, it is classified as ‘false manipulation information’ or ‘misinformation’ according to the producer’s intention. It is pointed out that if you lump it together as ‘fake news’, you can attach a fake news label depending on your political interests. In response to a reporter’s query to explain the definition and classification criteria of ‘fake news’, Special Committee Chairman Lee Hyeon-chul replied, “I think it is not so easy to define fake news or present criteria in advance.”
Chairman Lee Hyeon-chul continued, “If it moves to the level of legal regulation, we will have to discuss that definition in more depth once more,” but “the person who made it and the people who suffered damage know exactly this fake news. But observers in the third zone don’t know exactly whether this is fake news or not. Since it takes a long time to provide ex post relief, is there any way to quickly deal with fake news in advance instead of neglecting it excessively?”
[관련 기사 : 정치팬덤, 당신은 누구입니까?]
However, as pointed out during the previous activities of the special fandom committee, there were remarks that inevitably led to elements of political conflict. Chairman Lee Hyeon-chul cited the ‘suspicion of a drinking party in Cheongdam-dong’ as a representative example of fake news, and when asked by a reporter to tell regarding another case, “Recently, various types of fake news are prevalent, whether it is a problem with the discharge of contaminated water in Fukushima, and it is also spreading through social media. It is developing in the form of digging into the active political involvement and inducing action.”
In a situation where the fandom for Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, is on the rise, when asked if the policy proposal might be misunderstood by the opposition, Chairman Lee said, “It is not a level to defend and criticize either fandom, and extreme fandom, whether conservative or progressive, is in harmony with democracy and It is not helpful for the politics of coexistence,” he said.
Kim Han-gil, chairman of the National Integration Committee, said, “The foundation of democracy is collapsing due to strong fandom politics, which puts the initial optimistic prospects that the limits of representative democracy will be overcome by directly participating in the political process through digital technology.” As the committee launched a fuse for the restoration of pluralistic democracy, interest and cooperation from the media, the political world, and our society are important, and I hope the relevant organizations will actively implement it.”