Newspaper Association's First Sanction on 'AI News Learning'... Naver Reported to Fair Trade Commission

Pointing Out Unfair Practices Such as Copyright Infringement and Abuse of Market-Dominant Position

The Korea Newspaper Association (Chairman Lim Chae-cheong) announced on the 17th that it plans to file a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission regarding the unfair practices of generative artificial intelligence (AI) companies that have used news content for training without permission.

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

The Newspaper Association intends to file a lawsuit against Naver, which has officially acknowledged using news for training its generative AI services. Since it has been confirmed that overseas generative AI companies such as OpenAI and Google also use news articles without authorization, the association plans to gradually file complaints with the Fair Trade Commission against these companies as well.

Through this complaint, the Newspaper Association aims to investigate the actual use of news articles by Naver’s generative AI services, HyperCLOVA and HyperCLOVA X, and to establish a fair transactional relationship between newspaper companies and generative AI firms. Additionally, it plans to promote recognition of the value of news works and ensure transparency in IT platform algorithms.

The Newspaper Association has been reviewing the illegality and unfairness of AI companies’ unauthorized use of news content through a generative AI response council composed of 10 digital strategy managers from member companies. The council determined that the use of news by generative AI companies for AI training without permission constitutes a violation of copyright law and an abuse of market-dominant position.

In particular, it pointed out issues such as the use of news without proper compensation, unauthorized replication of article content, and failure to indicate sources. The opacity of news article arrangement algorithms and unilateral changes to contract terms are also regarded as unfair practices.

Furthermore, alongside the complaint to the Fair Trade Commission, the Newspaper Association will push for legal and institutional improvements. It plans to request the government and the National Assembly to mandate disclosure of training data sources through amendments to the "Basic Act on Artificial Intelligence Development and Trust Building," and to strengthen copyright protection for news through amendments to the Copyright Act. It also intends to propose the deletion of Article 7-5 of the current Copyright Act, which exempts "current affairs reporting that merely conveys facts."