Naver Discusses One-Strike-Out Policy for Fraudulent Sellers to Minimize Counterfeit Damage

Naver announced on the 31st that it held a regular meeting of the 'Naver User Protection and Self-Regulation Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Naver Self-Regulation Committee).' Various measures were discussed to enable consumers to resolve issues that may arise during transactions on the platform by themselves, including the introduction of a one-strike-out system for bad sellers.

The meeting was attended by Professor Kwon Heon-young of Korea University Graduate School of Information Security, the inaugural chairperson of the Naver Self-Regulation Committee, as well as Professor Lee Jin-soo of Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Administration, Professor Park Min-soo of Sungkyunkwan University Department of Economics, Professor Choi Nan-seolheon of Yonsei University Law School, and Professor Kim Hyun-kyung of Seoul National University of Science and Technology Graduate School of IT Policy. Also present were Lee Jung-kyu, Director of Naver Service Integration Support, and Son Ji-yoon, Head of Naver Policy Strategy.

Naver Headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

At the meeting, Director Lee introduced Naver’s key activities for user protection, including ▲efforts to manage and supervise sellers for user protection ▲actions and management activities against bad sellers ▲efforts to strengthen system stability and service continuity.

The Naver Self-Regulation Committee suggested that strengthened measures are necessary to reduce brands for which it is difficult to determine genuine products in order to protect users. They proposed practical improvement ideas such as ▲securing additional domestic and international rights holders for authentic product appraisal ▲implementing a stronger 'one-strike-out system' for actions against bad sellers ▲enhancing system redundancy levels and management organizations for stable commerce transactions ▲discussing the establishment of an integrated hotline among related organizations or government agencies.

In particular, the committee emphasized the need for various policy efforts to reduce user damage as counterfeit goods are spreading across various brands beyond overseas luxury goods, and the proportion of products difficult to authenticate as genuine is increasing. Accordingly, Naver explained that it will continuously increase the number of rights holders and utilize specialized appraisal institutions for brands where rights holders find it difficult to determine counterfeit products.

The committee also recommended operating a strict zero-tolerance one-strike-out system against bad sellers. Following the committee’s recommendation, Naver plans to immediately expel sellers judged to be intentional offenders. To prevent damage from spreading to other shopping platforms, Naver will also consider cooperation measures with external parties. Additionally, Naver decided to strengthen the operation and activities of a task force (TF) organization for system failure and stabilization to minimize service disruptions.

Chairperson Kwon said, "The Naver Self-Regulation Committee will continuously present service improvement guidelines to protect users and create a healthy platform ecosystem," adding, "We will work together with Naver to develop an advanced model of the self-regulation system."