Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
'Naver's news algorithm fair, transparent'
Myaeng Sung-hyon, center, chairman of Naver News Algorithm Review Board, speaks during a press conference at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap
By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
Naver has claimed its news algorithm system that curates news articles automatically has been operated transparently and fairly, review panels of the country's largest portal operator said Thursday.
“We've found that Naver's algorithm has displayed news articles automatically and it is structurally impossible for administrators to intervene in the system,” said Myaeng Sung-hyon, chairman of the Naver News Algorithm Review Board, during a press conference at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul.
Myaeng, a professor at School of Computing of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), said “the firm's decision-making processes in its news section have been logged.”
Naver has faced allegations that it has buried news articles deliberately for a long time. In October 2017, the firm's CEO Han Seong-sook apologized for rigging a news article unfavorable toward the K League, operator of the country's pro football leagues.
The firm also has faced criticism over an opinion rigging scandal in April, in which a political blogger nicknamed Druking allegedly used a computer program to manipulate online opinions on news articles on the portal site.
In response, Han said in May Naver will stop curating news articles on its main portal page and instead will give each media firm authority to select and arrange its stories. She added the firm would set up a review board inviting experts outside of the company. The firm launched the News Algorithm Review Board.
The review board is comprised of 11 experts in three parts ― computer science, information science and communication. During the six-month reviewing process, the review panels divided Naver's news service into three categories ― news search service, news recommendation service and entertainment and sports news article recommendation service.
Though Naver said its news curating system is proven by operating its news algorithm transparently, another board member pointed out chances still exist that administrator of the firm may intervene in news editing.
“Though we confirmed Naver's news management system has been systematically operated, the algorithm doesn't perfectly block administrators from intervening in news editing,” said Kim Yong-chan, professor at Department of Communication of Yonsei University.