Naver Z joins Tech Coalition to fight against digital sex crimes

Naver Z joined the Tech Coalition, an alliance of 27 tech companies around the world dedicated to fighting against online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. [NAVER]

Tech companies are joining forces to fight digital sex crimes against minors, as more and more young people engage in online activities through games and metaverse services.

Naver Z joined the Tech Coalition, an alliance of 27 tech companies around the world dedicated to fighting against online sexual abuse and exploitation of children, the company said Wednesday. Member companies include Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft.

Naver Z has been operating the Zepeto metaverse service since 2018, attracting users from 200 countries around the world. It had over 20 million monthly active users in August.

The company recently updated its Community Guidelines for Zepeto’s younger users and Guardians’ Guide for parents and guardians. Its Trust and Safety team is working to develop tools that prevent, detect and remove accounts that engage in child sexual exploitation and abuse, according to Naver Z.

“Our key responsibility is ensuring Zepeto is a safe place where our community, especially our younger users, can play and create without fear of harm,” said Kim Dae-wook, CEO of Naver Z. “As a member of the Coalition, we will contribute to the industry-wide initiatives to develop technology, policy, research, and tools to keep children safe online.”

Online sex crimes against minors become an important issue, now also because of the avatars that users use to communicate on metaverse services.

Sexual exploitation can take place in many forms, including sexual harassment from one avatar to another or coercing minors into sexual behaviors on or offline in return for game items or cash. Though the latter is punishable, harassment against avatars is not deemed a crime.

The law must be fixed so that avatars are recognized as representations of humans and, therefore, harassment against avatars can be punishable just as harassment against the real user, attorney and former judge Oh Ji-won said during a debate on online sex crimes held at the National Assembly last month.

“Because there is a real person behind the avatar, it may be necessary to give legal rights to avatars,” Oh said. “Metaverse avatars are different from game avatars, which are restricted according to the rules of the game. Regulations must take place in order for the virtual world to grow.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]