Policy Proposals via Text Message
Overview
Policy proposals via text message are a form of civic participation in which citizens directly deliver policy ideas, requests for institutional improvement, and everyday inconveniences to government ministries and local governments through mobile phone text messages (SMS/MMS) or mobile messengers. In Korea, where smartphone penetration is high, it has established itself as a low-barrier channel for participation, and operates as a means of supplementing existing online channels such as e-People (국민신문고) and the National Proposal system (국민제안).
Main Content
Concept and Background
Traditional policy proposals were made by post, in person, by fax, or through internet bulletin boards. However, for the elderly, the digitally vulnerable, and residents of rural and fishing villages, PC-based web submission channels still acted as a barrier to entry. Because text messages allow citizens to send their opinions immediately without installing a separate app or signing up for membership, their adoption spread mainly among local governments from the 2010s onward. Representative examples include "mayor/county magistrate/district head communication channels" that let citizens text the head of a local government directly, civil complaint submission numbers, and text lines for policy idea contests.
Operation Methods and Channels
Operation methods fall broadly into three types. First is the one-way submission type, in which a text sent to a specific number is received and classified by the responsible department. Second is a form combining automated responses and classification using messenger bots such as KakaoTalk Channels or Naver TalkTalk. Third is a method linked to integrated platforms such as e-People or the National Idea Box (국민생각함), allowing proposals to be registered directly from a mobile device. Recently, cases in which a chatbot summarizes the content of a proposal and automatically assigns it to the responsible department have also been increasing.
Linkage with the National Proposal System
The National Proposal system operated by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety is a system that reviews ideas submitted by citizens and adopts and rewards them. Proposals received by text also undergo the same review procedure once an official registers them with e-People. Local governments operate their own proposal systems based on ordinances, and adopted proposals sometimes lead to budget allocations or ordinance revisions.
Processing Procedure
The general flow is submission → classification → assignment to the responsible department → review → reply → (if adopted) implementation. Text proposals are assigned a receipt number immediately upon submission, and the results of processing are notified by text or app notification. However, since it is difficult to identify the proposer from the sender's phone number alone, a separate procedure to confirm contact details is carried out when a reply is needed.
Advantages
Accessibility is high and the cost is nearly negligible. It enables opinion gathering that is close to real time, and public sentiment on a specific policy can be detected quickly. It is evaluated as a means of inclusive administration in that it encourages the participation of the digitally vulnerable.
Limitations and Criticism
Because of the character limit on text messages, it is difficult to include specific grounds and alternatives, and anonymity can give rise to duplicate or malicious proposals. The workload placed on officials, the arbitrariness of classification criteria, and the lack of transparency in processing results have also been pointed out. In addition, personal information protection and spam blocking must be considered together.
Representative Cases
Several local governments, including Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, have operated "citizen proposal text channels," and some lower-level local governments have used direct text lines to their heads as policy communication channels. At the central government level, the e-People mobile app and the National Idea Box support text and mobile submissions.
Latest Trends
In 2024–2025, attempts are increasing to combine generative AI with chatbots to automatically summarize and classify proposals coming in by text or messenger and to group similar proposals and visualize them as statistics. Along with the Digital Platform Government policy, the trend of integrating the participation channels of multiple ministries into one is also clear. At the same time, as channels diversify—KakaoTalk Channels, Naver TalkTalk, and dedicated apps—the concept is expanding from "text" itself toward "immediate mobile participation." On the other hand, filtering out malicious and duplicate proposals and strengthening personal information processing standards have emerged as key tasks, and local governments are introducing transparency indicators that disclose processing results.
Related Topics
- [[e-People]]
- [[National Proposal System]]
- [[E-Government]]
- [[Digital Platform Government]]
- [[Civic Participation]]