rival parties-Kakao

▲ Firefighters work in front of a building of SK C&C in Pangyo, just south of Seoul, on Oct. 15, 2022, after a fire broke out there. (Yonhap)

rival parties-Kakao

Rival parties rap Kakao over disruption, call for tougher rules

By Lee Minji

SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Yonhap) -- The ruling and main opposition parties lashed out at tech giant Kakao Corp. on Monday, branding a massive service disruption that occurred over the weekend as a "digital platform disaster" and calling for stricter regulations to keep such services in check.

A fire started at a data center that Kakao uses on Saturday afternoon, prompting a power outage that disrupted the company's namesake messaging service KakaoTalk, as well as ride-hailing and public services tied to the app that more than 40 million use.

"The point of this crisis was that the business did not have appropriate backup systems in order to cut costs," Rep. Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), said, accusing Kakao of failing to "think about responsibilities while maintaining the market dominant position."

"Considering that digital services provided by the private sector have deeply permeated into the people's lives, we can no longer leave things to individual companies," he said. "We will swiftly provide legislative measures so that we will not again become helpless against such digital platform disasters."

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) blamed Kakao for failing to have safety measures in place.

"Despite expanding its business based on the messaging service, with 134 affiliates in operation as of August, the company did not have any preventive measures," PPP floor leader Joo Ho-young said, noting how the company does not run its own data center.

Citing security needs, Joo urged the parliament to look into a revised bill proposal aimed at designating data centers as state disaster management facilities. Companies had protested against the bill, calling it excessive regulation.

"Considering that our country has to sufficiently prepare against North Korea's threats that may involve network disruption, the need for relevant measures is pressing in terms of national security."

The PPP leader said the party will hold a policy consultation meeting with the science ministry and look into views warning against the company's excessive market domination.

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