Choi Suyeon, Naver CEO, Speaks at National Assembly Committee
Notification System for Comment Manipulation to Be Introduced Ahead of Presidential Election
"No Short-Term Sale of Line Yahoo Stake"
Welcoming Remarks by Suyeon Choi, CEO of Naver(Seongnam=Yonhap News) Reporter Dohun Kim = On February 19, Suyeon Choi, CEO of Naver, delivered welcoming remarks at a meeting with the members of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee (STIBC) held at Naver Building 1784 in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
On the same day, ruling and opposition members of the STIBC visited Naver to discuss measures for the development of the domestic AI industry and to hear about on-site difficulties.
February 19, 2025
superdoo82@yna.co.kr (End)
Naver will announce new measures this month to prevent manipulation of public opinion through comment rigging ahead of the upcoming presidential election.
According to industry sources on April 20, Naver is set to introduce a system that will notify users when news comment manipulation is detected. Previously, on April 18, Suyeon Choi, CEO of Naver, attended a plenary session of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee, where she responded to Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Jeonga's criticism that "comments promoting division and confusion are being exposed at the top" by pledging to implement countermeasures against comment manipulation.
Choi stated, "We are aware of issues such as 'news coordinate sharing' and the rapid increase in the number of likes on comments, and we are deeply considering the shortcomings in our technical response." She explained, "We have prepared technical measures that will allow us to immediately notify both news outlets and users of activities that abnormally increase the number of 'likes,' and these measures will be implemented within this month."
She added, "If there is an abnormal surge in traffic, we will notify the news outlet managing the affected comment and post a notice so that news users are also made aware."
Additionally, when asked during the meeting about the possibility of selling Naver's stake in LY Corporation (Line Yahoo), Choi reiterated that there are no short-term plans for a sale. In response to Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Hyun's question, "Has there been any change in your stance regarding your stake in Line Yahoo?" she replied, "There is no change in our existing position that we do not plan to sell our stake in Line Yahoo in the short term."
Regarding the use of news content for artificial intelligence (AI) training, Choi answered a question from Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Hoonki by stating that Naver is currently not using news content for AI training. Lee noted that "Naver possesses 6,500 times more Korean language data than overseas competitors, and news content is an important data source for AI," mentioning ongoing copyright lawsuits by broadcasters and content providers. In response, Choi said, "Although there was previously a provision allowing the use of news content for AI training, it has since been revised and we no longer use it," adding, "Recently, we have been signing agreements with news outlets regarding the use of AI technology."
Meanwhile, Choi admitted that suspending advertisements for a competing AI startup was "a wrong decision" and said, "I am deeply reflecting on it." AI service company RyuTen Technologies had disclosed in February that it was notified by Naver that it could not run performance-based display ads because it was considered a competing service.
Choi stated, "While restricting competitor ads is a general rule among platform companies, in this case, it seems the rule was applied too mechanically. We are now thoroughly reviewing the relevant advertising standards and are in the process of changing them so that the rule will either not be applied or will be applied only in a very limited manner."
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