Next News, Real-Time Chat Communication 'TimeTok' Implemented

Kakao's DaumCIC announced on the 8th that it will launch the beta version of ‘TimeTalk,’ a new comment service for Daum News.

TimeTalk is a chat-style comment service that enables real-time communication between users. It moves away from the traditional method of displaying some comments at the top based on recommendation or approval rankings, allowing users to exchange diverse opinions in real time.

Reflecting the news consumption patterns of Daum News users, TimeTalk is available for only 24 hours per article. This considers the period when users actively read the article after its publication. The comment section disappears 24 hours after the article is published.

The visibility of ‘SafeBot,’ an AI technology that automatically filters comments violating operational policies, has also been enhanced. SafeBot notifies users on the TimeTalk main screen that it is active, encouraging users to voluntarily participate in a healthy comment culture.

Kakao continuously advances its comment services to maintain their value as a healthy public forum. It has implemented permanent identity verification, systems to prevent comment spamming, and abolished entertainment and sports comments to prevent defamation and false accusations against specific individuals.

Kakao has also led efforts to improve comment health using AI technology. In 2013, it applied technology to automatically filter harmful comments, and in 2017, it became the first in the industry to introduce a feature that replaces profanity and vulgar language in comments with musical notes using AI. In 2020, it further advanced this with the application of SafeBot. SafeBot has achieved a reduction of malicious comments replaced by musical notes to about one-third.

Im Kwang-wook, Head of Media Business at DaumCIC, said, “TimeTalk, a chat-style comment service, was introduced to solve existing problems where some comments are overrepresented or inappropriate comments do not disappear, while maintaining users’ real-time communication and freedom of expression.” He added, “We hope that more users will comfortably and freely participate in comments through TimeTalk.”