투명성과 이용자 통제권 강화를 위한 온라인 맞춤형 광고의 규율: EU 디지털서비스법안과 2021년 전자상거래법 전부개정안의 분석을 중심으로

Abstract

Customized advertising has a very important meaning in generating revenue for online platforms, and at the same time, it is an area where online users have some objection to privacy. It is not difficult to find in Korea that such customized advertisements are not left entirely to the freedom of traders and that some appropriate regulation is needed. In the meantime, the korean Fair Trade Commission’s Amendment to ‘Consumer Protection Act in Electronic Commerce, etc.’ announced on March 5, 2021, has newly added legal regulations on customized advertisements. This paper compares and analyzes this with the EU’s Digital Service Act. First, it emphasized the need for a method to ban personalized advertising to minors under a certain age. In the case of minors, not only is it related to privacy protection issues, but they are unaware that they are being targeted as people with limited capacity who cannot execute valid contracts alone. Furthermore, it was pointed out that it is necessary to review a plan to avoid targeting advertisements using personal information and to commercialize targeting advertisements provided based on so-called contextual information in the market. Regarding the 2021 amendment to the korean E-Commerce Act, it is stated that the advertisement is a customized advertisement, and that disclosing the reason why the advertisement is displayed to a specific user is the minimum requirement for customized advertisement behavior. Furthermore, it was pointed out that further discussion is needed whether to clarify the rights of users at the legal level or to define them in the form of government guidelines. It was also criticized for being too passive about the scope of information and the method of providing information in regulating the obligation to provide information to ensure the transparency of customized advertisements. Finally, it was pointed out that more intensive discussion is needed on whether the opt-in method or the opt-out method is more appropriate in relation to the user’s right to choose whether or not to receive customized advertisements. A more review and discussion are expected on the issue of the regulation of customized advertisements while the revision of the E-Commerce Act is in progress.