Lee Haejin’s line completely eliminates the Korean color… All data transferred to Japan by June

Input 2021.03.24 10:30

There is no leakage of personal information, but measures to reflect local sentiment that Korea and China do not like it
Line’s largest shareholder, Naver to Z Holdings… “Look as an affiliate”

Naver-affiliated messenger service company Line, based in Japan, announced that it would block data access and storage in foreign countries such as Korea and China. As of March 1, Z Holdings, a new management integration corporation of Line and the local portal Yahoo Japan, was just launched, and the possibility of leaking personal information of Line was continuously raised by the Japanese media. It is a measure of concern.

The industry believes that Line, which has stepped up as a major subsidiary of Naver, is losing its Korean color in terms of business as well as corporate governance in consideration of local sentiment in Japan. Currently, the number of monthly users of LINE in Japan reaches 86 million. More than half of the total number of users is in Japan.

On the evening of the 23rd (local time), Line President Takeshi Idezawa held a press conference in Tokyo and bowed his head, saying, “I sincerely apologize for causing inconvenience and concern to users.” Although the fact of the actual personal information leakage has not been confirmed, it was an apology for that users may be concerned.

The controversy over LINE’s poor data management began on the 17th with the first report that the local Asahi Shimbun entrusted the development work of a Chinese company. There was a concern that personal information could be leaked to China by allowing Chinese employees entrusted with development work to access personal information such as user names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses stored on Japanese servers. According to the revision of the Personal Information Protection Act, the newspaper had to specify the data transmission country to users, but it was not the case.

Since then, the local media pointed out that there is a possibility of personal information leakage, noting that line data is stored not only in Japan but also in Korean servers. Currently, Line stores information such as messages, e-mail addresses, friend lists, location information, and address book on a Japanese server, and images, videos, albums, timeline, and LinePay payment information on a Korean server. Experts who know the local sentiment well in Japan said, “Japanese people firmly believe that Line is a Japanese company, and because they have strong phobias and hate feelings, they are trying to get out of the data management problems that Korea and China are talking about. Said.

Shortly after the actual report came out, the Japanese government said it was investigating the handling of personal information by Line. In addition, there has been a series of movements to temporarily suspend the use of lines, which are currently being used for some administrative services.

Accordingly, on the 19th, Z Holdings announced that it would establish a special committee to verify and evaluate LINE’s data handling by outsiders from the viewpoint of security and governance, and evolved. Despite the original line statement that there was no personal information leakage, the local public opinion atmosphere is getting more and more serious. At a press conference on the 23rd, Line announced plans to completely transfer images and videos stored on the Korean server to Japan by June. It has blocked access to Japanese servers from China, and has also suspended the development and maintenance of line communication-related functions and services that have been conducted in China.

With the recent launch of Z Holdings, Line is out of the shape of a Naver subsidiary on the surface due to its stake structure. Z Holdings now owns 100% of Line, which was previously owned by Naver over 70%. Naver has a structure that can exert influence through A Holdings, a joint venture with Softbank, which owns about 65% of Z Holdings. Currently, Naver and Softbank share 50% of A Holdings’ shares. Line said, “Line should be viewed as an affiliate, not a subsidiary of Naver.”

Currently, Line is co-represented by Mr. Shin Shin-ho, the founder of the search venture’First Snow’, a search venture acquired by Naver, along with the Japanese president Takeshi, and the leading role in Japan’s success in early 2010. Lee Hae-jin, Naver’s founder and Global Investment Officer (GIO), who has been deeply involved in the settlement process in Japan, is currently sculpting the big picture as Chairman of Line. In order to continue the success and business expansion in the Japanese market, which is also called the’grave of foreign services’, it is evaluated that local sentiment and color are the top priority.