Google must take responsibility for any legal violations over data leak: S. Korea

Seoul, Sep 11
Gender Equality Minister Won Min-kyong said on Friday that Google must take responsibility for any legal violations over an alleged leak of personal data of digital sex crime victims.

The personal information was earlier exposed from a foreign research project website collaborating with Google and deleted only after the government requested its removal.

The information contained personal details of victims who had requested the removal of illegally filmed videos, reports Yonhap news agency.

"A platform with significant influence globally, like Google, has an even heavier responsibility to protect and safely deal with sensitive information of victims," Won said during a press briefing. "If any legal violations are found, Google must take legal responsibility."

"This issue should not be passed over lightly as a simple system error or mistake. Google must take the gravity of the issue seriously and take a responsible stance in front of the victims and the public."

Won said her ministry is working with the Korea Media and Communications Commission to check for any legal violations, including to the sexual violence punishment law.

Google has apologised over the leak, saying it asked the operator to delete the information as soon as it was brought to their attention.

The company has also pledged not to share any deletion requests from South Korea with outside parties as part of follow-up measures, according to Won.

Meanwhile, South Korea plans to review allowing investigators to lawfully hack into websites distributing illegally filmed sexual material in a push to clamp down on digital sex crimes.

Under the proposed move, investigators will be able to directly access such websites to take down sexually exploitative material to minimise damage to victims and collect evidence, according to an inter-agency response plan.

The joint plan between the gender equality ministry, the Korea Media and Communications Commission and the National Police Agency comes in response to the growing number of such victims in the country in recent years.

Police investigated 17,716 digital sex crime cases between 2021 and 2025, with the number of victims who received support from authorities reaching 10,637 last year, sharply up from 2,087 in 2019.

Authorities said they would push to revise legislation to allow investigators such powers, noting that similar systems utilising warrants have already been introduced in Australia and Britain.

The joint plan also outlines introducing legislation to criminalise opening websites with sexually exploitative illegal material and creating a special investigation team to delete and track them down.

It also calls for banning advertisements on such websites and notifying the U.S. Fair Trade Commission of overseas-based websites that fail to take down sexually exploitative material involving Korean victims.