kakaotalk

The term “quasi-investment advisory business” refers to a business engaged providing advice, without heterogeneity, concerning judgments on investment in financial investment instruments or the values of financial investment instruments for a fixed consideration from customers; the use of bidirectional channels to conduct such business is strictly prohibited.

A user shall not violate the Capital Markets Act or other related laws and regulations using KakaoTalk, such as providing quasi-investment advice services, inducing or promoting subscription/use of quasi-investment advice services, or commit any of the following acts which may cause harm to other users:

• reating or operating a group chat room (so-called “leading room”) that provides advice concerning judgments on investment in financial investment instruments or the values thereof;
• Providing quasi-investment advice service, such as recommending investment items;
• Inducing users to subscribe to a leading room or providing investment advice by impersonating or pretending to be an expert, celebrity, employee of a financial institution or investment company;
• Inducing users to subscribe to a leading room or providing investment advice by mentioning guarantee of principal or profit, compensation, recovery of loss, etc.;
• Inducing users to subscribe/use private home trading systems (e.g., HTS) or website;
• Sharing false or exaggerated investment information, experience, etc.;
• Inviting other users to a leading room;
• Sending spam messages related to a leading room or registering advertising posts, etc.; or
• Operating a group chat room to show or promote a leading room.

Where a user attempts to provide investment advice or commit investment fraud in relation to any of the following investment instruments using KakaoTalk in order to induce others to make unlawful or wrong investment decision, Kakao may restrict the user from using KakaoTalk by applying the quasi-investment advising policy stated above mutatis mutandis thereto:

• Virtual assets (e.g., cryptocurrency) under the Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users;
• New or new type of technology investment instruments (e.g., art tech, NFT) which fall under securities or virtual assets;
• Real estate investment; or
• Other investment instruments similar thereto.

Especially in relation to virtual assets, users shall not commit any of the following acts:

• Inducing users to subscribe to a virtual asset exchange not declared by a virtual asset service provider or promoting such virtual asset exchange;
• Inducing users to invest in or trade unlisted virtual assets;
• Operating a group chat room (e.g., open chat room) to trade unlisted virtual assets or trading thereof; or
• Inducing users or promoting virtual asset futures not permitted by related laws or regulations.

“Similar deposit-taking” refers to any of the following activities that raise funds from a large number of random people without registering or reporting or getting licensed or authorized.

• An act of receiving investment after promising to pay in the future a full or an amount exceeding the amount of investment
• An act of receiving money under the pretext of deposit, term deposit, installment, balance, etc. after promising to pay the full amount of principal or an amount higher than such amount in the future
• An act of issuing or selling private loans after promising to repurchase at a price higher than the issuing or selling price in the future
• An act of collecting money for the membership fee after promising to compensate a future economic loss with money or securities

Kakao may immediately and permanently restrict the relevant user from using the entire KakaoTalk services if it identifies from user reports the following information in all its service areas, including KakaoTalk message to control damage caused by similar deposit-taking activities. Kakao may also take a series of applicable measures to control damage to users, such as restricting search results on Open Chat Home, access or use of open chat rooms or open profiles, or visibility of posts, if Kakao identifies the following information in a service area that any KakaoTalk user can view or engage in.

• Any content that guarantees the investment principle
• Any content guaranteeing the recovery of the investment funds
• Any content guaranteeing high returns from investments
• Any content promising regular high yields from investments
• Any content guaranteeing zero-risk
• Any content inducing private HTS download and installation

If you are restricted from using the service due to similar deposit-taking, you can request to release restrictions by proving whether you have been licensed, authorized, registered, or reported under relevant laws and regulations.