Kakao is expanding a digital safety net by working with civic groups to reflect online sexual exploitation risks affecting children and teenagers in its service policies and strengthen links to victim support.

Kakao said on Sept. 16 it held the "2026 Children and Youth Online Safety Forum" at its Kakao Jeju office on Sept. 15.

The forum was co-hosted by Kakao, the Teenage Women Human Rights Center and the Jeju Women and Family Research Institute, and was sponsored by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Caring Foundation. About 70 people attended, including representatives from the government, academia, civic groups and platforms.

The forum was arranged to share the results of cooperation following a September 2024 agreement between Kakao and the Teenage Women Human Rights Center to strengthen policies to protect children and teenagers from sex crimes, and to discuss ways to bolster safety nets in the online environment.

Kakao and the Teenage Women Human Rights Center have held regular consultations and operated an always-on hotline since the second half of 2024. They have shared patterns of exploitation risks and slang and circumvention expressions identified in the field. Kakao reflected this in banned-word management and improvements to its service operating policies.

They also built a linkage system that connects platform reports to victim support. It guides reporters to professional counselling from the Teenage Women Human Rights Center, linking platform reporting with external victim support.

The Teenage Women Human Rights Center cited as key changes Kakao's strengthening of operating policies last year to allow it to permanently restrict service use by users with a record of policy violations related to sex crimes against children and teenagers, as well as responses to new exploitation slang and circumvention expressions.

The two sides also issued a joint declaration titled "Our Promise to Build a Safer Online World". They agreed to consider children and teenagers' safety from the service design stage and reflect risks and victimisation patterns identified in the field in improvements to technology and protection systems.

They also said they plan to expand cooperation among government, companies, civil society and international organisations, and to operate the forum as a venue for continued cooperation.

At the forum, Ian Drennan (이안 드레넌), secretary general of the WeProtect Global Alliance, introduced global response trends related to online safety for children. The Teenage Women Human Rights Center and Kakao then each presented on the state of online sexual exploitation and cooperation cases between the two organisations.

Hong Shin (홍신), performance leader for Kakao's ESG cooperation, said digital safety for children and teenagers is a basic responsibility that must be upheld across services. He said Kakao will continue cooperation with various stakeholders including the government and civil society.