Korean ISP Suits Netflix After Increased “Squid Game” Traffic

There’s at least one player who isn’t particularly happy with the success of the Netflix hit. Squid game—and it’s SK Broadband, a South Korean Internet provider. According to Reuters, the ISP is suing Netflix to pay for so much bandwidth usage and maintenance costs due to spikes in traffic from the streaming giant.

According to SK Broadband estimates, Netflix owes 27.2 billion won ($ 22.9 million) in 2020 alone. The ISP manages about 1,200 gigabits of Netflix data processed per second in September, according to Reuters. This is 24 times more than in May 2018, and popular Netflix Korea productions like Squid game and DP are allegedly a big reason why.

Netflix doesn’t have it, however. The company has already appealed the decision. A few days ago, Netflix published a blog detailing its contributions to the South Korean economy, saying it has created 16,000 jobs and $ 4.8 billion in growth. In the blog, Netflix says it is a “platform for spreading the new Hallyu culture through shows like Kingdom, Vincenzo, and even the recently created one Squid game.“He also boasted that Squid game is the first Korean series to reach No. 1 on Netflix US.

As to where does all this come from? Earlier in June, a South Korean court facing Netflix in a case where the streaming company argued that SK Broadband had no reason to charge bandwidth charges. These fees would essentially force streamers like Netflix to pay extra to make sure their content reaches users. At the time, Netflix argued that it was just doing its job of creating content, and the expense was part of SK Broadband’s duty to provide the Internet to its subscribers. Instead, Reuters reports that the Seoul Central District Court ruled that it was “reasonable” for Netflix to be “obligated to provide something in exchange for the service.”

At the heart of it all is this good old debate about net neutrality and data caps – and it’s a battle we’ve seen before. If SK Broadband was successful, it would set a precedent that could encourage other ISPs to try and do the same. In 2014, Netflix and Comcast disagreed that the ISP was limiting Netflix. There was just too much Netflix traffic and the infrastructure to handle it hadn’t been built – and neither Netflix nor Comcast wanted to pay for it. In the end, Netflix shelled out the money and paid comcast for better streaming speeds for over seven years. But as the future of net neutrality seems to be a bit brighter (for now) under the Biden administration, this is clearly not an agreement made and settled around the world.