Facebook has blocked access of Korean gamers to its game service. (image: Maria Elena/flickr)
SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Korea Bizwire) – Facebook has regulated access of Korean users to its game service, causing inconvenience to them. That is because the South Korean government has put a brake on its betting games Korean Facebook users have played.
According to the Digital Times on August 27, the social networking company has blocked access of Korean gamers to its game service. Disputes over W Poker, a gambling game played on the Facebook game service, have developed into the matter of regulating access to all games. As the Korean government has always regulated all types of gambling including poker games and Korean “Go-Stop” games, W Poker is also supposed to be regulated.
As some Korean Facebook users have played the poker game, however, the authorities launched an investigation into them. The government insisted that Facebook block Korean IPs while the company demanded that the government give Facebook authority to offer a limitless game service to Koreans.
When Seoul declined to do so, the social networking service company ended up regulating access of Koreans to all games on Facebook.
The controversy over Facebook’s access restriction was caused by different standards in regulations on games in Korea. The government has been stricter to gambling types of games than any other countries.
By Veronica Huh (veronicah@koreabizwire.com)
