Naver's credibility comes under doubt

Web portal admits to unfair practices

By Yoon Sung-won

Naver is facing heavy public criticism for accepting on unfair solicitation to hide an online news article. The transparency of its online news portal and search engine services has also come into question.

Naver CEO Han Seong-sook recently posted a written apology on the web portal. She admitted an official at the company’s sports news service department had accepted an unfair solicitation from the Korea Professional Football League (KPFL). The latter asked to change the online arrangement of news articles that are unfavorable to the KPFL, making them “less conspicuous” on the sports news page.

There have been allegations in the past that the nation’s top web portal may have manipulated the exposure of news articles, web search results and real-time search keyword rankings. It holds about a 70 percent share of online news and media searches here.

But Naver has repeatedly claimed such allegations are groundless and stressed its services are run transparently based on the company’s system algorithms. Consequently, it is the first time for Naver to directly admit its involvement in such an irregularity.

“I feel sorry Naver has failed to keep the principle of transparency in service operation and disappointed users and those who are related to sports circles,” Han said.

“We have two business units ― one that arranges sports news articles at our news portal and another that seeks cooperation with sports industry organizations. Thus we have not been able to block the possibility of such a problem. As the leader of this company, I feel greatly responsible for what has happened.”

Han pledged to reorganize the company’s business structure within a month and strengthen transparency of news publishing in the sports and entertainment sector. She also said the official who accepted the solicitation will face internal disciplinary action.

The apology came after a news report earlier that day that Naver had admitted the solicitation took place. The news report released a text message between the Naver official and a KPFL insider on Oct. 3 last year.

In this message, the KPFL insider said, “I believe this will be the last request regarding news articles about the K League,” hinting that the latest solicitation may not be the first to manipulate the online news article arrangement.

Politicians and social organizations also raised their voices to blame Naver and highlighted the need for a more thorough investigation of the company’s news portal and search engine services.

On Saturday, the major opposition Liberty Party Korea (LPK) said in a statement, “Special measures are needed to tackle the manipulation of the web portal giant.”

LPK spokesman Rep. Kang Hyo-sang said, “The latest incident shows it is quite possible to manipulate the arrangement of news articles and distort public opinion.”

Yoon Moon-yong, director of information and communications technology policy at social organization Green Consumer Network in Korea, concurred.

“There have been many allegations that web portals are manipulating public opinion and now some of them have been confirmed as fact. We need to thoroughly look into the process of online news arrangement as well as the selection of real-time search keyword rankings,” he said.

Naver said, however, news articles other than sports and entertainment sections are run by a different unit and thus it is excessive suspicion to question the fairness of the company’s other services.