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1. What is Kakao’s Privacy Policy?

Kakao Corp (hereinafter "Company" or "Kakao") uses and provides the user’s personal information based on the user’s consent, and actively guarantees the user’s right(the right to control one’s own personal information).

Kakao complies with applicable laws, personal information protection regulations and guidelines of the Republic of Korea, which must be obeyed by information communication service providers.

Kakao’s Privacy Policy refers to guidelines on protecting the user’s valuable personal information which Kakao is required to comply with, in order to ensure that users use its services with confidence.

This Privacy Policy is applied to Kakao Services (hereinafter “Kakao” or “the Services”).

2. Collection of Personal Information

Kakao collects the minimum personal information to provide the Services.

The following minimum personal information is collected when the user signs up for the service or while the user uses the Services, through the home page, individual applications and programs, and etc.

[KakaoTalk] Required

(Including country code) mobile phone number, contact information stored in the device’s Contacts (third party phone numbers, names), user name (nickname), profile picture

[Kakao Account] Required

Email, password, name (nickname), profile picture, Kakao Service Friend List, KakaoTalk phone number (for KakaoTalk users), Contact (only if you have registered a contact)

Optional

Date of birth, gender

[Customer Service] Required

Phone number, Kakao Account (email)

Some services may collect personal information additional to those collected commonly by Kakao Account upon the user‘s consent in order to provide specialized services.

• What is required information?: Information required to provide the fundamental features of the concerned service.
• What is optional information?: Additional information which needs to be collected to provide more specialized services. (Users still can use the Services without agreeing to provide additional information.)

See detailed personal information items collected in addition to Kakao Account information See additional personal information items collected for customer service The method of personal information collection is as follows.

When collecting personal information, Kakao informs the fact to the user in advance and asks for an agreement. Personal information is collected using the following method:

• The user agrees to the collection of personal information and enters relevant information when signing up for a service or while the user uses the Services.
• Personal information is provided through affiliated services or groups.
• Personal information is provided via the home page, email, fax, phone, etc. during customer service calls.
• The user participates in online and/or offline events.

If personal information about a child under the age of 14 year has to be collected, only the minimum personal information is collected after acquiring consent from the child's legal representative.

The child may be requested to provide the minimum necessary information, including the legal guardian's name and contact information, and the legal guardian's consent is confirmed using the methods below.

• Confirm the legal representative's identity through the legal representative's mobile phone self-verification process
• Provide the legal representative with a document of consent, which is signed and submitted by the representative
• Use other methods that is equivalent to the methods described above to notify the legal representative of the reason to acquire consent and confirm that the representative has consented.

The following personal information may be collected while the user uses the Service.

Device information (OS, screen size, device ID), IP address, cookies, date of visit, improper usage record and service usage record may be automatically created and collected while the user uses the PC web or mobile web & apps.

Personal information is provided by the third-parties due to partnered or associated services. See the detailed personal information received by the third parties

3. Use of Personal Information

Personal information is used to manage membership, to provide and improve Services and to develop new service.

Personal information is collected to the minimum extent required to provide Services when the user signs up for the service or while the user uses the Services, through the homepage, individual applications and programs, and etc

• Member identification, confirmation of the user’s will to sign up, user and age verification, prevention of improper usage
• Confirmation of consent of a legal representative in case of collecting personal information of children under 14 years of age, verification of identity of the legal representative thereafter
• Message transmission between friends, friend registration and suggestion
• Notification of activities to friends, user search & sign-up
• Analysis and service provision based on demographic characteristics
• New service development, provision of various services, inquiry and complaint handling, delivery of notifications
• Sending contents, etc. to the users of paid services, or shipping / payment
• Prevention and sanction of any act that interrupts normal service operation of the service
• Confirmation of participation in events; marketing and advertising purposes
• Voice-command processing and voice-recognition enhancing, customized service
• Statistics based on service usage record, frequency of visit and service use; development of service environment to protect privacy; development of customized services; service improvement.

Additional personal information may be used or provided.

The personal information may be used or provided to a third party, without consent from the user and in accordance with related laws, to the extent that the information is collected and used for reasons related to the purpose of collection. At this time, collective consideration is made to whether the additional use and collection of personal information is related to the original purpose of collection, the circumstances of the collection or processing practices can lead to expectations of further use or provision of personal information, the collection and use unjustifiably impeded on the user's interests, and/or whether measures where taken to secure security, such as pseudonymization or encryption.

Kakao can pseudonymize the collected personal information in order to secure anonymity of the individual. This pseudonymized information can then be used for statistics, scientific research and public records. Pseudonymized information is saved and managed separately from the additional information, and necessary technical and operational measures are applied so that the information owner cannot be identified.

View how pseudonymized information is used

4. Provision of Personal Information

Kakao does not provide personal information to any third party without your consent or unless demanded by applicable laws. Kakao entrusts the following personal information to a third party to connect Kakao Services to third-party services.

Kakao does not disclose a user's personal information to third parties without the user's prior consent.
However, personal information may be provided to third parties upon the user's consent within the extent necessary for the user to use the services of Kakao's partner companies.
Click here to check the status of the provision of personal information for individual services.

Kakao can provide necessary organizations with personal information without consent from the information owner in the event of a disaster, communicable disease, incidents or accidents that can lead to death or physical endangerment, and/or emergency situations that can lead to immediate financial loss.

The following affairs are entrusted to third parties to provide seamless Services.

Kakao provides personal information to third parties in the course of entrusting some parts of the affairs required for service provision. Kakao also supervises and manages agencies that are entrusted with personal information to ensure that agencies abide by related laws and regulations and does not handle personal information for purposes other than to execute the entrusted task, confirm that agencies apply technical and operational protective measures, and restrict agencies from entrusting the information to others.

See entrusted parties

Some personal information is transferred overseas to perform the following affairs.

See entrusted companies for overseas transfer of personal information

5. Destruction of Personal Information

The user's personal information is to be destroyed immediately once the purpose of the collection and use of personal information is fulfilled. The procedure and method of destruction is as follows:

The method of destroying personal information that has to be destroyed because the purpose of collecting or using personal information has been achieved, or because the user has unsubscribed from the service, will be determined depending on the format of the personal information. Personal information stored in electronic file formats is to be deleted using technical means which make the information unrecoverable. Personal information printed on paper records, printed matters and documents is to be destroyed through shredding or incineration.

However, the following personal information is destroyed after being kept for a certain period in accordance with internal policies.
1) The following information is destroyed after being kept for one year from the date of the user’s unregistration from the service.
-. Kakao Account and the email address to which a unregistration notification email was sent to send notifications and handle customer service inquiries after unregistratio
- Improper usage records

2) KakaoTogether: The following information is destroyed after being kept for three year from the date of the end date of project fundraising.
(If the project is not selected, it will be destroyed after being kept for 90 days from the date of result announcement.)
-. Documents submitted during applicant selection

3) Kakao Certificate: Once certificate use is discontinued, certificate use history will be stored and then destroyed ten (10) years after the certificate discontinuance date.
-. Name, date of birth, gender, personal verification value (CI), certificate data

4) COVID-19 unused vaccine appointments • alerts: The following information will be stored and destroyed on the last day of the year the information is collected.
-. Medical facility that will administer the COVID-19 vaccine, appointment time and results

5) mm : The following information will be stored and destroyed three (3) years from the date the voice data has been reported for improper use.
-. Nickname, voice data

6) Open Chat > Voice Room: Any voice information reported for fraudulent use shall be destroyed after being retained for three (3) years from when the report is received.
-. Nickname, voice data

Furthermore, Kakao separately stores or deletes the personal information of its members who have not used the Services for one year or longer in accordance with the expiration system of personal information. The stored information will be destroyed after being kept for four years.

Other personal information which are required to be retained by law and their respective provisions are as follows:

See details on the storage of personal information in accordance with applicable laws

6. 개인위치정보의 처리

Kakao handles personal information as described below in accordance with the Act on the Protection and Use of Location Information. Kakao can retain personal location information in order to provide services as stated in Article 4 of Kakao's Terms and Conditions of Location-Based Services.

• The personal location information is immediately destroyed once the information has been used in and provided to location based services.
• The personal location information in user-created posting and contents which are in services that store location information is retained as long as the posting and/or content remains in the service.
• If needed, personal location information may be retain for a minimum amount of time to provide location-based services.

Personal location information is immediately destroyed once the purpose of collecting and using information has been achieved.

Once the information has been collected and used for its desired purpose, or the user has unsubscribed from the service, the personal location information is safely deleted so that it cannot be restored or reconstructed.
However, information is stored if laws and regulations prescribes justifiable reasons to store such information.

In accordance with the Act on the Protection and Use of Location Information, evidence that confirms the use and provision of user's personal information shall be stored in location information system for six (6) months.

Personal location information is not provided to a third party without the user's prior consent.

Kakao does not provide a user's personal location information to a third party without the user's prior consent. If the information is provided to a third party, the user is notified in advance of the information recipient, and the purpose of providing the information, and may consent to the provision of such information.

If personal location information is provided to a third party upon the user's consent, the recipient of the information, as well as the date and purpose of providing the information must be immediately notified to the user every time the information is provided.

View details of the provision of location information The custodian shall have the following rights if a custodian is needed to protect a child who is 8 years old or younger.

In accordance with Article 26-1 of the Act on the Protection and Use of Location Information, if the custodian agrees to the use or provision of personal location information to protect life or physical body of children aged 8 years or younger specified as below ("Children Aged 8 Years Or Younger, Etc."), such child will be deemed to have consented thereto.

• Children aged 8 years or younger
• Incompetent persons under adult guardianship
• Mentally disabled persons who are defined in Article 2.2.2 of the Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities and categorized as persons with severe disabilities based on Article 2.2 of the Act on the Employment Promotion and Vocational Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (Only those registered as disabled in accordance with Article 32 of the Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities)

Any custodian who intends to exercise the rights above shall submit a written consent with evidentiary documents for his/her custodianship to the Company, and shall be granted all user rights that are defined in the Terms and Conditions of Location-Based Services.

Please refer to the Kakao Terms and Conditions of Location-Based Services for more information on how personal location information is handled.

7. Others

Kakao is committed to protecting the user’s rights.

Users are able to inquire or edit their personal information at any time, and may request to withdraw their consent to the collection · use, and provision of their personal information or cancel their membership. In the case of children under 14, the legal representative is given the rights to inquire, edit and delete, suspend processing, collect and use, or withdraw consent in providing personal information. Users may unregister from the service or withdraw his or on personal information provision by clicking the Unregister button in the Services, or contact the Customer Service via in writing, or through phone or email. If a user requests the revision of personal information, the user's information is not to be used or provided until the revision is completed.

See the Usage of Personal Information (login required)

In addition, Kakao also provides a page containing information on the user’s right protection in accordance with the Privacy Guidelines for Online Customized Ads.

Introduction of online customized ads and how to reject them Sometimes cookies are used to provide PC-based services.

Cookies are used to support a faster and more convenient use of websites and to provide customized services.

What is a Cookie?

A cookie is a small piece of text file usually set by the web server, sent from a website and stored in a User's computer hard disk while the user is browsing that website.

Purpose of use of cookie

Kakao uses cookies which save and retrieve user information in order to provide personal customized service. When a user visits the website, the website server reads cookies stored on the user's device to maintain environment settings and customized services. Cookies help the user use the website easily and conveniently by finding out the user's preferences. Also, they are used to provide customized marketing information by tracing the number of visiting to the website and use patterns.

Rejecting a cookie

a user has an option for setting a cookie. Hence, a user may allow all cookies by setting the option on the web browser; whenever a cookie is stored, the confirmation thereof shall be completed; or, otherwise, a user may reject the storage of all cookies. Provided, however, when a user rejects the storage of a cookie, then the user may have some difficulties in using a service.

Allow or Don't Allow Cookies

• 1) Internet Explorer

  Select "Tool" menu at the top of the browser. > "Internet Options" > "Personal Data" Tab > Settings

• 2) Chrome

  Select "Settings" menu at the top right side of the browser. > "Show advanced settings" > In the "Privacy" section, click "Content settings". > Cookies

Kakao works hard to protect our users' precious personal information.

The protection of our users' personal information is our utmost priority. In order to protect users' valuable personal information, we at Kakao are making the following efforts.

• Users' personal information is encrypted.

  Users' personal information is transmitted through encrypted communication channels, and important information, including passwords, are encrypted when stored.

• Personal information is protected from hacking attempts and computer viruses.

  Systems are installed in areas restricted from external factors to prevent users' personal information from being leaked or damaged by hacking or computer viruses. A 24-hour monitoring system has been installed to detect and block any hacking attempts, and vaccine programs are being used to protect the system from the latest malware and viruses. Kakao is also continuously researching new security and anti-hacking technologies and applying the new technologies to our services.

• Valuable personal information is handled by minimum personnel. Risk of personal information breach is minimized by assigning only a necessary handful of people to handle users' personal information and by blocking work computers from accessing external internet services.

  Systematic standards are applied when creating and updating passwords in systems that store personal information database and process personal information. Standards are also applied to authorizing access to systems and audits are conducted on a regular basis.

• Kakao employee receive regular training on personal information protection.

  Training and campaigns on personal information protection and security are held for all Kakao employees who handle users' personal information.

• Kakao meets national and international certification standards on user information protection activities and systems.

  Kakao is verified annually by an independent auditing organization to ensure that we meet national and international certification standards on information protection and privacy management. The result of the audit is applied to any improvements needed.

  • See more about information protection certification

Kakao complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as the domestic laws of each member country.

The following may apply when Kakao provides services to users in EU countries.

[Purpose/Basis of Personal Information Processing]

Kakao uses personal information collected from users only for purposes specified in "3. Use of Personal Information", informs users prior to any use thereof and asks for agreement.
In addition, Kakao may process personal information in accordance with applicable laws including GDPR in any of the following cases:

• Consent of the data subject
• Sign and fulfil a contract with the data subject
• legal compliance
• When personal information processing is necessary for the material benefit of the data subject
• For the pursuit of legitimate interests of the company (except for cases where the benefits, rights or freedom of the data subject is more important than that of the company.)

[Guarantee of Users' Rights in EU Countries]

As described in "Kakao protects your personal information", Kakao is committed to protecting your privacy. In accordance with applicable laws including GDPR, a user may request that his or her personal information be transferred to another manager, and refuse the processing of his or her information. In addition, a user has a right to file a complaint with data privacy protection authorities.
Kakao may also use personal information for marketing purposes such as event promotion or advertisements, for which Kakao obtains a prior agreement. A user may withdraw the agreement at any time if he or she doesn't want it.
A user may inquire the foregoing matters to the Customer Service via document, phone or email. The request will be handled in a proper and timely manner.
When a user requests for the correction of personal information, the concerned information shall not be displayed until such correction is completed.

Questions regarding Privacy Protection

For any inquiries, complaints, feedback or other matters related to personal information protection which arise while you use the Services, please contact the Privacy Protection Officer or the responsible department. Kakao will do its best to listen to you and promptly answer any questions you may have.

Privacy Protection Officer and Responsible Department

• Privacy Protection Officer/DPO/Location Information Manager: Yeonjea Kim
• Department: Privacy Protection Part
• Contact : Customer Service : 1577-3754 (Charged)

Please make inquiries to the following organizations if you need to report or consult in regards to the violation of personal information.

Amendment to the Privacy Policy

Kakao may amend its Privacy Policy to reflect any legal or service changes. Kakao will notify such amendment in advance, and the amended Privacy Policy will take effect seven days after the notification of the amendment
However, any major change in user rights, including personal information items to be collected and the purpose of collecting thereof, will be notified at least 30 days in advance

• Notification Date: May 31, 2022
• Enforcement Date: June 07, 2022

See past privacy policies