Google has changed terms and conditions related to copyright infringement on its video-streaming platform YouTube at the request of South Korea’s antitrust watchdog, the government said Thursday.

The Fair Trade Commission said the US tech firm had changed eight terms and conditions in a follow-up to the request in March. The authorities had asked for the revision of clauses that allowed YouTube to arbitrarily delete and reuse videos posted by users.



Under the revised terms, if a user’s content is removed, the tech firm should notify users of the reason immediately. Users should also be notified in advance if services or clauses are halted or changed unfavorably to them.

The revised clauses will be posted on Google’s homepage in the Korean language in August.

Lee Tae-whi, chief of the terms evaluation division of the FTC’s consumer policy department, said the changes were limited to Korea, though he expects them to be reflected in global terms and conditions.

The FTC is also looking into some clauses of American media-services provider Netflix. Lee said, “If allegations are found, we will investigate the case.”

Netflix is suspected to have “toxic” clauses that do not hold the firm accountable even if it violates local laws.

Netflix’s terms and conditions include “the firm does not guarantee that there will be no service suspension or errors,” and “users relinquish their right to seek special, indirect and secondary compensation from Netflix.” 

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)