Access Unavailable Since October 10, Sparking Heated Online Debate
Restored from the Afternoon of October 11
"Temporary Disruption," Says Ilbe
Rumors regarding the shutdown of the far-right online community "Daily Best Repository (Ilbe)" turned out to be a brief incident that concluded within a day.
On the afternoon of October 11, Ilbe released a notice stating, "In the early morning of October 10, a temporary access disruption occurred due to abnormal traffic. Restoration work is currently underway, and access has already been restored in some environments. We will resume normal service as soon as possible."
Previously, the Ilbe website was inaccessible from October 10 until the morning of October 11. This led to heated debate among netizens, with some speculating, "It is probably just a server error or domain issue," while others suggested, "It may be an attempt to remove illegal materials or content used for manipulating public opinion," or questioned, "Did the government block access to the site?"
Additionally, the controversy continued as the site did not appear in Google search results. However, as of 12 p.m., access had returned to normal.
Ilbe is a community that was established in 2010 after splitting off from the DC Inside forum. Initially, it functioned as a general online community, but later evolved into a far-right community, focusing on political and social issues with increasingly extreme tendencies. In this process, the site has repeatedly caused social controversy due to posts mocking the deceased, disparaging certain regions, and promoting misogyny.
In February 2018, a petition was posted on the Blue House website calling for Ilbe's shutdown, which received support from more than 230,000 people. The petitioner at the time pointed out, "Pages that collectively conspire to commit crimes and mock the deceased should be eliminated."
In response, Kim Hyungyeon, then Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House, stated, "The Korea Communications Commission reviews the possibility of shutting down or blocking access to a site if the proportion of illegal content exceeds 70% of all posts. The Supreme Court has also ruled that a shutdown is possible, taking into account the intent behind the site's creation."
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