South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission said on Thursday it has begun an investigation into Google, including requesting it submit materials to verify the facts, after media reports said deletion requests related to digital sex crime material provided to Google were disclosed on an external website.

The commission is checking the facts, including the scale and types of sensitive personal information Google provided to the external website operator and the period of provision. It plans to examine whether Google continued to provide deletion request details to the website operator, or whether human error or system failures occurred, and how the damage happened.

The commission plans to focus its review on whether Google had a lawful basis for processing when it provided personal information to the third-party website operator, and whether consent procedures were carried out when transmitting sensitive information, including potential violations of the Personal Information Protection Act.

The commission views the case as serious because it involves sensitive information of victims of digital sex crimes, raising concerns about secondary harm. It plans to intensively investigate the overall flow of personal information processing between Google and the external website operator, and if it identifies issues requiring urgent deletion or blocking during the probe, it plans to seek immediate corrective action by Google and the website operator to prevent the damage from spreading.