The Secret of 5-Star Rated Restaurants on Naver and Baemin... Managing Ratings with 'Temporary Measures' [Review War]

②Consumer Complaints About Platform's 'Temporary Posting Suspension' Service
Even Genuine Reviews... Automatically Blocked for 30 Days if Reported

Reviews left to help consumers make purchasing decisions are becoming a source of disputes between small business owners and consumers. Consumers leave critical reviews to provide information to other consumers, but when small business owners feel offended and file complaints with the platform, the reviews are blocked. Under current law, reported reviews are automatically temporarily blocked for 30 days, which has been criticized as unfavorable to consumers.

As of the 9th, many platforms providing consumer reviews, such as Naver, Baemin (Baedal Minjok), and Coupang Eats, operate a 'temporary suspension of posting' service. Temporary suspension is a service where the platform temporarily blocks (suspends posting of) posts reported for reasons such as defamation, portrait rights, or infringement of personal rights, based on Article 44-2 of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc.

Naver blogger A recently wrote a review post and was suspended by Naver. Provided by A

In the case of Naver, posts reported for rights infringement, including reviews, undergo a review process before being suspended, and then the results are notified to both the reporter and the poster. Reported posts are initially suspended, but if the poster submits a statement (request for reposting) within 30 days arguing that the suspension is inappropriate, the platform reviews and decides whether to restore the post. Posts that have been suspended but for which no objection to the suspension procedure is made are deleted. Naver introduced the temporary suspension service in 2006 and has operated it under the Rights Protection Center since January this year.

However, since reported posts are suspended for 30 days regardless of whether they contain defamatory content, consumer dissatisfaction arises. Informative reviews written to help other consumers make choices are blocked regardless of the content once a complaint is filed. Under current law, even posts approved for reposting after a statement to the platform maintain the 30-day temporary suspension. In other words, even if a post is not problematic, once reported, it is blocked unconditionally for 30 days.

Bought because of high rating... Managing ratings by deleting reviews?

Mr. A recently had his honest review suspended for 30 days. A, a blogger with 10 years of experience, posted a comparison review of 10 wedding retouching companies and left a 'not recommended' review for one of them. A said, "This company operates by promoting on Instagram and receiving payments via KakaoTalk, but they did not keep appointment times and their Photoshop skills did not match the advertisements. I wrote the review for public interest without any intention to defame," adding, "However, the company filed a complaint, and my review was blocked for 30 days."

A received approval for reposting through an objection. A said, "Within two hours after the complaint, Naver recognized that my objection was valid," but added, "Still, the review was suspended for 30 days. I think it is unfair that the post is not immediately reposted even though the statement was accepted."

Pixabay

Baemin, which also temporarily suspends reviews, faces similar issues. Mr. B said, "I ordered Chinese food from a highly rated restaurant via home delivery, but the sweet and sour pork was soggy and the jajangmyeon was all soggy, so I left a review about it," adding, "But two days later, the review was blocked due to a suspension request. The business seems to manage by reporting critical reviews instead of improving the food."

B said, "I don't understand the situation where if you don't object to the temporary suspension, the post is permanently suspended after 30 days," and raised his voice, "Reviews are meant to evaluate food and service, so how can there be any rights infringement? If critical reviews are always reported and managed this way, other customers suffer. Baemin's rating system needs improvement."

Platform responsibility for review management... "Need to develop AI technology to protect customers and small business owners"

Currently, on Naver blogs and cafes, complaints about temporary suspension measures or posts about the withdrawal of temporary suspension after statements are frequently posted. However, Naver does not aggregate the total number of temporarily suspended posts or the number of objections filed by post authors. Although many users feel inconvenienced by temporary suspensions, complaints are fragmented as individual issues.

A Naver representative explained, "The platform cannot judge whether a review is actually defamatory or false, so we do not aggregate such data," adding, "Statements are reviewed from multiple perspectives. For example, if evidence such as proof of purchase is submitted during the statement process, the post is approved for reposting. Temporary suspension is a user protection measure based on the platform's legal obligations, not a mediation of disputes between users. If additional measures are needed, we guide users to seek judgments from relevant authorities."

Professor Lee Sang-yong of Hanyang University's Department of Economics said, "From the perspective of small business owners, temporary suspension is necessary for protection as it can significantly affect their livelihood, but consumers may find it frustrating," and pointed out, "Naver has a huge customer database and many experts who can analyze AI data. They have sufficient capability to develop algorithms that can distinguish whether a review is malicious or not through text analysis."

Professor Lee added, "It is difficult to preemptively block disputes between consumers and business owners over reviews, but a system should be established to automatically detect and filter problematic reviews," and said, "In the U.S., platforms like TripAdvisor and Yelp continuously develop various AI technologies to filter fake reviews when customers write them." He emphasized, "Especially since Naver is a neutral platform serving both consumers and small business owners, better solutions must be developed to protect both customers and small businesses. Efforts from Naver are necessary."

Jung Ji-yeon, Secretary General of the Korea Consumer Federation, said, "From the consumer's perspective, reviews are left to prevent harm to other consumers, but posts are blocked unconditionally regardless of content," criticizing, "Since the voices of small business owners are heavily reflected, the purpose of reviews is being undermined." Jung added, "Many people seek product information through reviews, so the platform's role is important."