Upon entering the digital transformation era, online platform services have increasingly dominated both industry and our daily life. In response to this trend, governments around the world continue to put forth great efforts to establish online platform regulations to keep pace. The European Union’s Digital Markets Act and the bill for Online Platform Competition Promotion Act pursued by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (“KFTC”), have thus far focused on regulating anticompetitive conduct such as the abuse of dominance by so-called “Big Tech” companies. However, with the expansion of online platforms into various industries, voices calling for the establishment of specific regulations for the online platform industry in diverse areas including personal data protection, user protection and labor are growing.

Furthermore, the recent “TMON, WeMakePrice” case highlighted that structural issues in online platforms can lead to crises in upstream and downstream markets, and in society and the overall national economy, extending far beyond the platform itself. As a result, there has been an increasingly widespread interest and consensus on platform regulation. Thus, the KFTC has continued to express its intention to actively enforce laws against abuse of dominance and unfair trade practices in the online platform industry, including the September 2024 announcement of a legislative direction to promote fair competition in the online platform industry and prevent the reoccurrence of incidents similar to the “TMON, WeMakePrice” case.

However, due to the rapid development pace of the platform industry, constantly shifting market environment, rising importance of data, use of artificial intelligence (AI) to make business decisions and proactive market exploration by startups, among other characteristics not at the forefront in the traditional manufacturing-oriented market, a traditional approach to regulation may not be effective in solving the problems that require specific regulations for the platform industry, and may yield negative results hindering the emergence, growth and innovation of new industries.

Accordingly, the growth of the platform industry requires legal services extending beyond the mere knowledge of existing systems, laws, legal theories and regulations but a fast and deep understanding of constantly emerging and evolving services, and customized solutions based on predictions of the ever-changing market environment.

Lee & Ko’s Platform Regulation Team was formed to provide customized, one-stop legal solutions to platform regulations by experts that are in tune with market changes resulting from the growth of the online platform industry, and that possess a deep interest and understanding of the challenges companies face when engaging in new and innovative business sectors.

Our Platform Regulation Team consists of not only lawyers with proven excellence in competition, data privacy and labor law that is unparalleled, but also experts in economic analysis and the implementation of legislation to provide top-notch legal advice based on organic collaboration at all levels of the platform industry, including responding to legislation regulating platforms, solidifying and promoting platform business ideas, interpreting platform regulations, responding to investigations related to platforms by regulators and handling civil, criminal and administrative disputes.

Our Platform Regulation Team is constantly conducting research to provide our clients with superior, customized solutions to keep pace with market changes in the platform industry, and continues to accumulate extensive knowledge, know-how, experience and wide network. Using our extensive resources and capabilities, our Platform Regulation Team is unrivaled in providing swift, accurate and customized solutions.

主要业务方向

[Legal advice on M&As in the platform market]

Provide legal advice on competition law (Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act, “MRFTA”) issues that may arise in M&A transactions between or against platform operators.
Provide legal advice on the merger notification process to the KFTC and other competition authorities to achieve the best possible outcome, in consideration of the unique characteristics of the platform market.
Represent interested third parties in M&As in the platform market and advising on how to effectively communicate concerns regarding M&As to the KFTC and global competition authorities.

[Responding to regulatory investigations and litigation in the platform industry]

Provide services in responding to investigations and sanctions by the KFTC and global competition authorities for alleged violations of the MRFTA or other competition laws, including abuse of dominance and unfair trade practices, and related civil and criminal litigation.
Provide services in responding to investigations and sanctions by regulators such as the Korea Communications Commission (“KCC”) on violations by platform operators under the Telecommunications Business Act, and related civil and administrative litigation.
Provide services in responding to investigations and sanctions by regulators such as the Ministry of Science and ICT and the KCC for alleged violations by platform operators under the Telecommunications Business Act and the Information and Communications Network Act, such as ensuring service stability, preventing illegal information and the protection of minors, and related civil and administrative litigation.

[Legal advice on competition law (MRFTA) regulations in the platform industry]

Provide legal advice for platform operators in the promotion and implementation stages of their business on issues involving competition law violations in other countries and under the MRFTA.

[Legal advice on protection of personal information in the platform industry]

Provide services for platform operators in responding to investigations and sanctions by regulators such as the Personal Information Protection Commission, the Financial Services Commission, the Financial Supervisory Service and the KCC under the Personal Information Protection Act, the Credit Information Act and the Location Information Act, and related civil and administrative disputes.
Provide advisory compliance services for platform operators to ensure compliance with the Personal Information Protections Act, Credit Information Act and Location Information Act.
Provide global advisory compliance services for platform operators to ensure compliance with global privacy regulations.
Provide legal advice related to licensing, including obtaining all necessary licenses for platform operators to provide services that utilize personal (credit/location) information.

[Legal advice on relevant regulation for new technology and businesses in platform industry]

Provide legal advice on Korean and international regulations on new technologies and business such as artificial intelligence, big data, the metaverse, Internet of Things, cloud services, and network separation for platform operators.
Provide legal advice for the introduction of news services such as regulatory sandboxes for platform operators to offer new and converged services.

[Legal advice regarding platform workers]

Provide legal advice on the protection of platform workers and other relevant regulations, including issues on the employment status of platform workers under the Labor Standards Act.
Provide legal advice on collective labor relations with platform workers, including consultations on collective bargaining and agreements related to labor union activities, and strategies for responding to industrial action.

[Legal consulting services in the platform industry]

Represent platform operators during the authoritative interpretation process for laws regulating platforms and provide legal advice to ensure the most reasonable and lawful interpretation from the relevant government authorities.
In cases where legislation regulating platforms renders it impossible or difficult for platform operators to conduct business, we analyze the business structure and objectives of platform operators to identify laws and regulations that require amendment or revision and provide effective legislative response services including persuasive arguments to effectively convince National Assembly members and relevant government ministers of the need to amend or revise such laws and regulations.
Identify statutes with illegal or unconstitutional elements and represent clients in administrative proceedings to challenge the illegal or unconstitutional elements utilizing the most efficient and effective means to resolve the issue.

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代表性案例

[Legal advice on M&As in the platform market]

Represented a Korean OTT provider in an M&A case
Represented an online celebrity fan community platform operator in an M&A with another online celebrity fan community platform operator/li>
Represented a webtoon platform operator in an M&A case/li>
Provided legal advice to an online delivery app platform in an M&A case/li>
Represented and provided legal advice to numerous online platform operators in M&A cases/li>

[Responding to regulatory investigations and litigation in the platform industry]

Responded to a KFTC investigation into the abuse of superior bargaining position by an online shopping mall platform
Responded to a KFTC investigation into the unfair trade practices of an online video platform operator
Represented an online delivery app platform in a criminal case for violating the MRFTA with unfair trade practices
Represented platform operators in an administrative lawsuit in response to an administrative decision by the Personal Information Protection Commission
Responded to investigations by financial authorities and the Personal Information Protection Commission on the procession of personal information (credit) by payment platform operators

[Legal advice on competition law (MRFTA) regulations in the platform industry]

Provided legal advice on competition law issues (MRFTA) including unfair trade practices by online platform operators, such as delivery app platform operators
Provided legal advice on the KFTC’s fact-finding survey into the platform industry
Provided advice on global competition law legislation and regulatory trends in the platform industry

[Legal advice on relevant regulation for new technology and businesses in platform industry]

Provided legal advice to major domestic and foreign portal operators and e-commerce and social networking companies on platform operations, AI services and big data utilization
Provided legal advice to international video platforms, mobility platforms and other such platform operators on entering the South Korean market
Provided legal advice to a financial company on all legal issues related to operating an AI-based platform
Provided legal advice to the largest copyright fragment investment platform in South Korea on the acquisition of convertible bonds and application to become an innovative financial service
Provided legal advice on issues related to the operation of a metaverse platform and the introduction of new technologies

团队主要成员

数字新媒体产业信息保护法制咨询企业并购企业咨询初创企业环境、社会与公司治理环境 Digital Health 数字新媒体产业诉讼 Tech & AI 数字金融 Platform Regulation

高煥京

Partner

T +82-2-2191-3057

E hwankyoung.ko@leeko.com

企业并购企业咨询公平交易 Tech & AI Platform Regulation

宣正鎬

Partner

T +82-2-772-4676

E jeongho.sun@leeko.com

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