April 25, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] South Korean internet giant Naver denied reports Sunday that it has an internal policy that allows the government to demand unilateral changes to the portal website’s “current most-searched keywords” list, Korean news agency Yonhap reported Dec. 25.

According to Yonhap, government agencies can legally request Naver to delete or exclude certain trending keywords from its website, signaling potential manipulation and state surveillance of public information on the web.

Naver’s current most-searched keywords list often reflects the hottest topics and issues that are of interest to the public in real-time, ranging from politics, social affairs, entertainment and popular culture.

The Korean internet giant said that according to its protocol, it does not artificially add or remove keywords from its trending search words list. However, the firm said it is mandated by the current law to follow orders from the Korea Communications Standards Commission or local courts, refuting allegations that its policies are wholly “internal.”

Korea’s second-largest portal operator Daum is also subject to the same law, Naver added.

Naver also pointed out that the keywords it omits are sent over for transparent screening by the Korea Internet Self-governance Organization.

According to KISO, Naver excluded a total of 1,408 keywords from its current most-searched keywords list from January to May this year, which amounts to around nine keywords a day.

By Sohn Ji-young/The Korea Herald (jys@heraldcorp.com)