Jim Jordan, House Republicans raise concern over ‘major threat’ from South Korea’s ‘fake news’ law

Republican members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee raised concerns Thursday about the scope of a Korean law to combat so-called “fake news,” which critics fear is being used to crack down on the constitutional free speech rights of American citizens and companies.

Four Republicans led by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, fired off a letter to Kim Jong-cheol, who serves as chairman of the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC), expressing alarm at a new amendment to South Korea’s Information and Communications Network Act.

The letter alleged that the amendment, which was passed by the Korean National Assembly last December and went into effect last month, “[gives] courts the unprecedented power to punish news outlets and social media users for spreading ‘false or manipulated information’ and extract damage awards of up to five times any alleged harm.” It also warned that the amended law now permits the KMCC to “impose massive fines on news outlets and users that it deems to have spread such information.”

Under the law, those who distribute information more than twice after a Korean court has deemed it to be false or manipulated could be fined up to 1 billion won ($656,000) by the KMCC. The amendment has also prompted alarm from journalist groups that fear its vague wording will chill speech by permitting the South Korean government to prosecute news outlets and social media influencers, according to The Associated Press.

“This amendment serves as a major threat to online speech and expression and would allow the KMCC to punish American companies and their users for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” the Republican members wrote.

The letter also warned that the amendment targets American companies by taking aim at information disseminated on American-owned platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, X and Instagram.

“As such, the amendment could force American companies to remove speech that South Korea deems ‘false or manipulated’ or face massive fines and penalties for failing to comply, giving South Korea the ability to coerce American businesses into removing politically disfavored speech, including the speech of American citizens that may be available in South Korea or shared by South Korean users,” read the letter, which also requested a briefing on the issue from South Korean officials no later than Aug. 20.

The other members who signed the letter included Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., and Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash.

The letter comes as Morse H. Tan, who served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice from 2019 to 2021, has been banned from leaving South Korea after being indicted under the Information and Communications Network Act last month.

The charge stems from allegedly defamatory remarks he made against South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during an event last year at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

A clip went viral on social media of Tan noting at the event that there have been rumors and reports that Lee “as a youth, was involved in gang-raping and murdering a young lady, and as a result was put in juvenile detention and therefore was not able to attend junior high and high school.”

During a recent interview with The Christian Post, Tan remained skeptical of courts and fact-checks that have dismissed the allegations he repeated against Lee, though he framed his situation to CP as a broader violation of his rights as a U.S. citizen amid what he described as the erosion of rights in South Korea.

Morse H. Tan: Three successive travel bans have been imposed on me because I have been leading the counterrevolutionary movement against the communizing coup d’état and the subsequent purge currently happening in South Korea. @MorseHTanpic.twitter.com/7474fTeNcR

— Bannon’s WarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) August 6, 2026

During another interview Thursday on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Tan echoed his claim that his treatment by the South Korean government is in retaliation for his outspoken opposition to what he described as “the communizing coup d’état and the subsequent purge currently happening in South Korea.”

Tan, who is slated for his first trial hearing in South Korea on Sept. 11, faces potential prison time for his comments made on U.S. soil.