“Exposure as a game broadcast”… I went into Naver ‘Chijijik’ [뉴스+]

Minors can view without adult verification
Controversy over sensational broadcasts on the Rising Sun Flag broadcast
Naver is working on AI monitoring, but
“Add monitoring personnel and strengthen management supervision”

Chijijik screen capture. Provided by Representative Lee Jeong-heon’s office

Mr. A, who is raising a son in middle school, was surprised one day when he saw his son’s cell phone screen. Her child was watching a broadcast of a woman dancing provocatively with her breasts exposed.

When Mr. A reprimanded him, his son got angry again, saying, “It’s just a game broadcast.”

Mr. A said, “I don’t know why it includes such provocative content or videos, even though it is a general game broadcast,” and expressed concern, “It seems that minors have been too defenselessly exposed to unhealthy and harmful content.”

It was revealed that harmful content can be easily accessed on Naver’s Internet live broadcast (streaming) platform ‘CHZZK’ without logging in or adult verification. As there was a related controversy at the beginning of the year, Naver is taking steps to manage it, but it is pointed out that monitoring and filtering are insufficient.

Lee Jeong-heon, a member of the National Assembly‘s Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee and a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said in a comprehensive audit of the Korea Communications Commission and others on the 24th, “If you access Naver Chijijik and search for a specific streamer’s name without logging in, you will see revealing clothes. “You can watch videos of people doing somewhat embarrassing things, such as dancing while wearing clothes, without any restrictions,” he criticized.

Rep. Lee released a video directly demonstrating the process and said, “Some videos were rated 19+ and their thumbnails were restricted, but there are also videos that were posted without any restrictions at all.” “There is,” he pointed out.

Naver’s Internet live broadcasting platform ‘Chijijik’ icon. Provided by Naver

Naver’s streaming platform ‘Chizijik’, which Naver officially launched in May of this year, is increasing its market share in the domestic streaming platform industry by attracting 2 million users every month.

According to Mobile Index, an app statistics analysis platform, Chizijik’s monthly active users (MAU) last month was 2.34 million, ranking second by a close margin compared to SOOP (formerly Afreeca TV)’s MAU of 2.36 million during the same period.

However, during the public pilot service period, controversial broadcasts were broadcast one after another.

Last January, a female streamer broadcast while wearing a T-shirt with the Rising Sun flag and a headband with the Japanese flag on it. He also broadcast on other platforms wearing the Rising Sun flag and said, “I wish I were Japanese.”

In addition, broadcasts by streamers who mainly broadcast sexually suggestive adult broadcasts are broadcast. There have also been reports that streamers with criminal records, including sex offenders, are broadcasting.

A streamer who broadcast in Czizyk earlier this year wearing a Rising Sun Flag t-shirt. Online community capture

At the time, Naver revoked the broadcasting rights of streamers who wore the Rising Sun flag and those who exposed their genitals. They also announced that they would strengthen monitoring and follow-up measures, including adding an age restriction function.

Since then, Naver has been allowing users to report problematic live broadcasts and VOD content through its own pornography reporting window. According to the platform operation policy, sexual acts, words and actions, violence and harsh acts are classified as harmful content and use restrictions are imposed.

In addition, we are conducting 24-hour monitoring, including filtering, by applying ‘Green-eye’, an artificial intelligence (AI) technology. According to Naver, the probability that AI can filter out harmful photos and videos is 98.1%.

However, after Chijijik was officially launched, none of the channels that exported videos reported to the channel were subject to ‘use restrictions’.

Status of live broadcasts, VODs and actions reported in Cizizik from December 2023 to August of this year. Provided by Representative Lee Jeong-heon’s office

From last May to August, the number of live broadcasts reported in Cizizik was 7,417. Among them, only 621 channels received warnings (556) or blocks (65). There were 1,007 VODs reported, of which 91 channels were blocked. There were no channels with restricted use.

Streamers sometimes use the trick of transmitting harmful content in real time and then deleting the video rather than posting it, but some point out that sanctions against deleted videos are insufficient.

Naver said in its data, “We are conducting human inspection in parallel with GreenEye on videos saved after live, and are in the process of reviewing whether it can be applied to live videos. Therefore, it is difficult to separately calculate the number of cases of sensational content detected using only GreenEye.” “There are practical difficulties,” he explained.

There are many voices calling for measures such as comprehensive monitoring of harmful content and the deployment of additional management personnel, as well as management and supervision by the Korea Communications Standards Commission, a regulatory body.

Rep. Lee said, “The fact that this situation is happening even though there are guidelines and a monitoring system clearly shows the careless management of the government.” He added, “The National Security Commission, a regulatory body, is aware of the seriousness of inappropriate content being exposed to young people without protection.” He emphasized, “We must conduct thorough monitoring even now and properly review and take corrective action on content and channels that violate the guidelines, such as causing social controversy.”