Google to change rules following FTC advice

Google will closely cooperate with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) to voluntarily revise its terms of services, the company said Thursday.

The decision arrived after the antitrust regulator announced on the same day that it has made corrective recommendations against the company on issues that primarily relate to users’ privacy.

It is the first corrective recommendations to ever be issued against Google.

Some of the terms of services Google has decided to voluntarily revise include: the excessive collection of personal information when creating an account and looking into users’ emails; the operator’s right to save uploaded content on its servers and keep or use them even after the uploaders deleted them; and the operator’s comprehensive exemption.

When the corrective measures are embraced, Google-owned YouTube will no longer be able to delete content without the uploaders’ consent or suspend accounts of users even if they have uploaded something inappropriate.

The FTC said the platform should provide specific and rational reasons for their decision to take down content or accounts, adding that users should be informed of what they have done wrong and given an opportunity to make corrections.

Google will have to act on the recommendations within 60 days of receiving the notification or the government can issue corrective orders.

The government can report the firm to the prosecution if it does not carry out the orders.

Google was among four IT companies - along with Facebook, Naver and Kakao - that were issued corrective recommendations.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]