Naver to Suspend "Real-Time Search" Service During General Election; Daum to Permanently Discontinue It (Comprehensive)

Naver Suspends "Rising Search Keywords" Until Election Day
Daum to Permanently End "Real-Time Issue Search Keywords" Starting the 20th

[Asia Economy, reporter Lee Jinkyu] Naver has decided to temporarily suspend its real-time search keyword (referred to as "Silgeum") service during the 4·15 general election period. Comments on entertainment news articles will also be suspended for the time being. Meanwhile, portal site Daum will permanently discontinue its real-time search service.

On February 19, Naver announced that it will halt its "Rising Search Keywords" service from April 2 until 6:00 p.m. on April 15, which is the official campaign period for this general election.

Naver's real-time search service has repeatedly faced conspiracy theories and pressure from the political sphere to suspend the service, particularly whenever political issues arise. In September of last year, supporters and opponents of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk engaged in a heated competition on Naver and Daum's real-time search rankings, sparking controversy.

In particular, as supporters of former Minister Cho pushed keywords such as "ProsecutionLiberalPartyCollusion" and "IamChoKuk" to the top of the real-time search rankings, lawmakers from opposition parties like the Liberty Korea Party strongly objected. As a result, the real-time search service became a major topic during last year’s National Assembly audit.

Naver has implemented various improvements, such as revamping the service to allow users to personalize real-time search rankings using artificial intelligence (AI) technology. However, with the surge in political issues ahead of the general election, the company ultimately decided on a temporary suspension.

Yoo Bongseok, Head of Service Operations at Naver, explained, "During the general election period, as public attention is heavily focused on the major issue of the election, there is a risk of unpredictable incidents that could affect the fairness of the election. To prepare for this, we have decided to temporarily suspend the Rising Search Keywords service."

Naver will also temporarily suspend the comment service on entertainment news articles, which has been the subject of ongoing controversy over defamation and invasion of privacy, sometime next month. In addition, it will discontinue the related search keyword service for people’s names.

Yoo added, "Despite our multifaceted efforts to uphold the fundamental value of the internet as a platform for two-way communication, we could not avoid deep concerns given the unique nature of celebrities who receive intense public attention." He continued, "We acknowledge that current technological measures are insufficient to alleviate the suffering of celebrities, so we have decided to close the comment section on entertainment news until a structural overhaul of the entertainment information service is complete."

Meanwhile, Daum's "Real-Time Issue Search Keyword Service" will be completely discontinued on February 20. Daum has already shut down its entertainment news comment and people-related search keyword services. Kakao, which operates Daum, eliminated entertainment news comments in October last year and revamped the people-related search keywords in December of the same year.

Kakao stated, "As promised on December 23 last year, we are ending the real-time search keyword service," adding, "This is part of our efforts to fulfill our corporate social responsibility and to help create a healthier society."

The real-time issue search keyword area will be removed from both the mobile and PC main search pages on Daum. Instead, the area to the right of the unified search results will feature category-specific keywords and recommended posts from the donation platform 'GatiGachi.'

A Kakao representative said, "Recently, we determined that the real-time issue search keyword service has shifted from its original purpose of reflecting organic results to becoming the starting point of phenomena." The representative added, "We are preparing a new service that will better serve the original intent and positive functions of real-time search."