플랫폼 규율 방향에 관한 고찰 - 플랫폼의 민사법적 지위에 기초하여 -

Recently, as the frequency and range of use of online platforms increase, active discussions are taking place regarding the discipline of platforms. In Korea, there have been discussions on the enactment of general legislation on platforms. In Europe, directives such as the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Service Act, and in Japan, relevant laws such as the “Act on the Improvement of Transparency and Fairness of Specific Digital Platforms” and the “Act on the Protection of Consumer Interests Using Transaction Digital Platforms” have been introduced respectively. Regarding the conduct of the platform itself, there is no question about the need for regulation in various directions, including from the perspective of competition law. However, whether to impose responsibility to the platforms for the transmission of information by a third party using the platform should be carefully judged, as the transmitter of illegal information is a third party using the platform, not the platform itself. Excessive regulation may damage the essence of the platform ecosystem, which is the free distribution of information, and eventually run counter to the welfare of platform users. In addition, it may rather result in giving the platform excessive control over its users and lead to infringement of greater legal interests such as freedom of expression. The responsibility theory of the platform should be carefully discussed after clearly understanding that the platform is only an indirect supporter. On the other hand, discussions on the responsibility of the platform have already accumulated in the form of online service providers' liability since the mid-1990s when the Internet began to be actively usedm while discussions using the term “platform” are recent. These online service provider discussions also need to be taken into consideration when setting the direction of platform discipline from now on.