South Korean Broadband Firm Sues Netflix After Traffic Surge From ‘Squid Game’

Reuters:

South Korean Internet service provider SK Broadband has sued Netflix to pay for costs from increased network traffic and maintenance work because of a surge of viewers to the U.S. firm’s content, an SK spokesperson said on Friday.

The move comes after a Seoul court said Netflix should “reasonably” give something in return to the internet service provider for network usage, and multiple South Korean lawmakers have spoken out against content providers who do not pay for network usage despite generating explosive traffic.

Some really odd legal decisions and laws coming out of South Korea lately. I detect a whiff of protectionism. Would they be going after app store payment systems if the dominant one belonged to Samsung? I doubt it.

★ Friday, 1 October 2021