Naver are turning off their comments section on entertainment articles

[juhli.livejournal.com]

Naver Announces Suspension Of Comments Section On Entertainment Articles + #GirlsGeneration’s #Sooyoung Reacts https://t.co/ctuJQOIpi5 pic.twitter.com/OF8MoxfwZm

— Soompi (@soompi) February 19, 2020

Portal site Naver is tentatively removing the comment feature on entertainment news articles and also disabling its related search term service.

On February 19, Naver’s operations team posted on its official blog to say, “Despite many different attempts to protect two-sided conversations, one of the internet’s fundamental valuable aspects, we became increasingly concerned when we considered the unique case of celebrities, who are the subject of a large amount of attention.”

They continued, “There are increasing concerns about the violation of celebrities’ personal rights online, and as we provide a space within Naver’s entertainment news article comments that has ended up including everything from celebrities’ work to their private lives, we feel responsibility regarding the issue of the violation of celebrities’ personal rights.”

Naver stated that they are working on technological solutions and operational policies to solve the problem. In the interim, they are putting celebrities’ wellbeing first and they stated that the efforts they’ve taken up to now using technology to try to solve the problem haven’t been enough to shield celebrities from the pain they undergo due to these violations of their rights. “We’ve decided to close down comments on entertainment news articles until structural changes to the entertainment news service are completed,” they stated.

In addition to comments, the related search term service has also been an issue. When people type a name into the search bar, related terms automatically come up as suggestions. Naver stated, “There have been cases where unconfirmed rumors or keywords that violate personal rights have come up. In order to respect their personal rights and minimize harm to their personal lives, we are abolishing the related search terms feature completely.” The only aspect that will remain is the auto-completion feature for the convenience of the user.

Last October, portal site Daum decided to remove its comment feature for entertainment news articles and pages. In addition, both Daum and the messaging app Kakao Talk removed related searches for people, and Daum is also removing the display of realtime trending searches on its site.

Naver will be suspending its entertainment news article comments and related search terms for names starting in mid-March.

Girls’ Generation’s Sooyoung shared a screenshot on Instagram of an article about the changes, which describes Naver’s decision to close down comments and Daum’s removal of the display of realtime trending searches this month. The article states that Daum removed its comment feature on entertainment news articles as well as related search terms last October after malicious comments became seen once again as a societal problem following the passing of Sulli.

Sooyoung wrote, “A child who lived like a spectacular wave became a sea wall.”

source: @soompi, soompi, naver

Comments

[violoncelliste.livejournal.com]

what did Sooyoung mean? i don't get it at all

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

I think she’s referring to Sulli

[violoncelliste.livejournal.com]

aah thank you!

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

I think she meant that Sulli lived a crazy life that many critized, but in the end it was her passing that led to this change.

[violoncelliste.livejournal.com]

thank you. it's honestly heartbreaking that some people literally had to die for this to happen, but maybe, maybe it'll help at least a little

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

Good. Netizens will still be active on sites like Pann and Fancafes, but it's a start.

[baekpedaling.livejournal.com]

This is a good decision.

[pikapika217.livejournal.com]

GOOD

[kimbafierce.livejournal.com]

I'm skeptic.. this is a temporary ban and not a permanent one, and they're testing it the month straight before the elections. If this stays as a ban on the entertainment section only it'd be good, otherwise it'd be worrying.
I have zero faith they're doing this for the good of the people, but miracles do happen once in a blue moon.

[lizanka23.livejournal.com]

i wouldn't be surprised if it was because of the election. i remember they've punished people before for criticizing politicians like authorities harassing some bloggers or something

[kimbafierce.livejournal.com]

yep, and they're banning the "trending section" too, which is a big red flag.
They're better ways to fight cyber-bullying, one of the first is starting with hateful, clickbaity headlines made by "real" journalists.

[lizanka23.livejournal.com]

oh yeah definitely! the way those "journalists" frame some of those headlines just invites harassment and abuse to celebs but i guess in korea they also make money off of clicks. with caroline flack's death in the UK it seems to be a global problem for female celebrities to be harassed by the media.

wtf@ getting rid of the trending section?? definitely suspicious. i hope there are people in korea speaking out against this like journalists or activists

[spread.livejournal.com]

I'm lowkey shook, actual good news.
Wow.

[lizanka23.livejournal.com]

they should shut them off for all entertainment articles. most of those comments are personal attacks and judgmental middle aged men that hate women that comment. leave the opinions to forums and message boards