"Lee Nak-yeon's Speech Also Featured on Main... Kakao Shows Reluctance to Yoon Young-chan's Assembly Text"

Photo by Yonhap News

"Joo Ho-young (People Power Party floor leader)'s speech is immediately reflected on the main page."

"Please strongly protest this to Kakao."

"Kakao is too much. Tell them to come in."

Yoon Young-chan protests "Why only the opposition floor leader's speech is on the main page"

On the 8th, a message exchange between Yoon Young-chan, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, and his aides was captured by a photojournalist's camera, sparking a widespread controversy.

On that day, the National Assembly plenary session featured the floor leader Joo's representative speech for the parliamentary negotiation group. In the released messages, Yoon's office aide pointed out with a portal site screenshot, "Floor leader Joo's speech is immediately reflected on the main page," and Yoon replied, "Protest to Kakao," and "Tell them to come in."

Yoon, a former Dong-A Ilbo reporter, served as vice president of Naver and senior secretary for public communication at the Blue House before entering the 21st National Assembly after winning the general election in April.

In response, People Power Party members of the National Assembly's Science and Technology Information and Broadcasting Committee, including Park Sung-joong, issued a statement saying, "This reveals why the Blue House sent Yoon to the National Assembly. Rumors have been rampant that the current Blue House and ruling party have manipulated the portals, and this incident exposes the issue," adding, "This is an abuse of the press and the true face of the ruling party's portal control."

They urged, "The government and ruling party must conduct a thorough investigation, prevent recurrence, take disciplinary action against Yoon, and impose legal measures to hold strict responsibility."

As the controversy grew, Yoon said at the committee's plenary meeting, "I checked the Kakao main page monitoring during Rep. Lee Nak-yeon's speech the day before, but the article did not appear," adding, "I did not protest that part because I considered it editorial freedom."

He continued, "However, today, floor leader Joo's speech appeared on the portal main page with the full text attached, so I thought there was a fairness issue. That is why I said it was 'too much,'" and explained, "I believe there is sufficient freedom to express opinions."

Yoon Young-chan, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Kakao: "Rep. Lee's speech was also exposed on the main page"

Kakao is embarrassed by the sudden controversy. In fact, Rep. Lee's speech, which Yoon claimed was not visible on the main page and raised fairness issues, was also exposed on the main page.

A Kakao official explained, "Rep. Lee's speech was also exposed on the main page the day before, and we disclose all exposure records," adding, "News is edited by artificial intelligence (AI), so there is no human intervention whatsoever."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.