Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
About 60% of KakaoTalk users annoyed by ad messages
Screenshots of KakaoTalk's advertising messages through its Brand Message service / Courtesy of Kakao
By Lee Gyu-lee
Only 12% of users remember giving consent to ads
Kakao is facing criticism over its advertising practices on KakaoTalk, after a civic group survey showed a majority of users are unhappy with the surge in promotional messages on the messenger platform.
According to a survey by Seoul YMCA of 2,000 KakaoTalk users released Tuesday, 59.2 percent of respondents said they experience discomfort with the messenger’s Brand Message service, a promotional format that delivers business ads through its chat interface.
Notably, only 11.8 percent of respondents said they remembered giving consent to receive advertising messages, while 45.7 percent said they did not recall ever doing so.
“This reflects a lack of transparency in Kakao’s consent process and suggests it should more clearly inform users at the time of service sign-up,” the civic group said.
When asked about the need to regulate advertising messages, 62.1 percent of respondents said government oversight is necessary.
Seoul YMCA demanded that Kakao revise its policies to more explicitly seek user consent before sending marketing messages and to clearly disclose that personal information is being used for advertising purposes.
The survey also showed that users were concerned about data usage and potential charges incurred when receiving such messages, with 64.3 percent answering that it is unfair that their mobile data is used for ads.
The civic group argued that users would have to shoulder costs without being provided with detailed information, calling for the company to specify any potential costs users might incur when receiving such content.
The group also urged relevant government organizations to review whether Kakao has obtained consent to send third-party advertising messages through proper processes and whether users are being unfairly charged for data use, as complaints continue to mount.
Kakao disputed the criticism, saying its brand messages comply with the law and are only sent to users who have agreed to receive them. “The brand messages are sent based on the recipient’s explicit prior consent as required under the Network Act,” a company official said.
“The service sends advertising messages via KakaoTalk to targets selected by a business under a consignment contract between Kakao and that business.”