Naver also eliminates’real sword’… “I won’t set an agenda”

Naver, the largest portal site in Korea, completely abolished the real-time search term service after 16 years. Although it was easy to recognize the interests of the public, controversy continued to manipulate public opinion, and as it was used as an advertising tool, the controversy continued.

This is Kim Ki-tae.

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Naver’s real-time search rankings first appeared in 2005.

It worked by showing the search terms in order with the largest increase in number of search box entries.

As Naver became the largest search portal in Korea, the ranking of actual inspections was regarded as an indicator of issues of interest to the public.

However, as the perception that it is possible to artificially increase the ranking of search terms spread, suspicion of manipulation continued.

In the course of the appointment of former Minister of Justice Cho Kook in 2019, it has been transformed into a confrontation between the pros and cons.

In addition, some shopping malls were criticized as they became excessive marketing tools, such as intentionally linking events to expose their product names to real tests.

Naver reorganized the method to display search terms according to the user’s individual interests by applying AI technology, and temporarily suspended the service at the time of the 4-15 National Assembly election last year.

However, as political controversy was expected again ahead of the re-election, Naver decided to completely abolish the actual inspection service from the 25th of this month.

Kakao also removed the following real-time search terms in February last year.

[김진규/네이버 PR 실장 : 풍부한 정보 속에서 능동적으로 본인들이 필요한 정보를 소비하고 싶어 하는 이용자들의 트렌드 변화에 맞춰서 (폐지를 결정했습니다.)]

Naver said, “It means that Naver will no longer be in charge of the agenda setting function.”

(Video coverage: Cho Chun-dong, Video editing: Park Jin-hoon)

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