South Korean internet provider SK Broadband has filed a lawsuit against streaming platform Netflix to cover costs of increased traffic and maintenance after a surge in traffic, a spokesperson for the provider said.
The surge in traffic comes as “Squid Game” dominates Netflix. The Korean-language drama is on track to become the streamer’s biggest show in its history.
The lawsuit comes after a Seoul court stated that Netflix should “reasonably” offer something to the internet provider.
Multiple Korean politicians have spoken out in opposition to content distributors who do not financially compensate internet providers for traffic booms.
Netflix has said that they will review the company’s claim, open a discussion and work to find a way to avoid SK Broadband users experiencing difficulties.
SK said that Netflix and YouTube do not pay network usage fees, but other sites like Amazon, Facebook and Apple do.
As of last September, Netflix’s data traffic handled by SK was at 1.2 trillion bits of data processed per second, about 24 times from May 2018, in part due to the success of shows like “Squid Game” and “D.P.”
Last year, Netflix claimed in their own lawsuit against the provider that the expenses incurred by SK were part of their contractual obligation to customers and thus should not be paid by Netflix.