Naver Officially Launches 'User Protection and Self-Regulation Committee'

Naver announced that the 'Naver User Protection and Self-Regulation Committee (tentative name, hereinafter referred to as the Self-Regulation Committee)' will officially launch on the 18th.

The Self-Regulation Committee was established to create an institutional foundation for user protection and service improvement in line with the dynamic digital environment. The committee operates independently from Naver and supports the company in developing self-regulation measures and establishing monitoring systems on its own.

Naver announced that the 'Naver User Protection and Self-Regulation Committee (tentative name)' will officially launch on the 18th.
[Photo by Naver]

The Self-Regulation Committee has built a cooperative system with the four subcommittees under the 'Platform Private Self-Regulation Organization,' which was launched in August last year (Gap-Eul Subcommittee, Consumer/User Subcommittee, Innovation Sharing/Governance Subcommittee, Data/Artificial Intelligence (AI) Subcommittee), and reviews and implements the agenda discussed in these subcommittees. To this end, experts participating in the four subcommittees were appointed to the committee.

The committee consists of nine external experts, including Professor Jinsoo Lee from the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University, Professor Minsu Park from the Department of Economics at Sungkyunkwan University, Professor Nanseolheon Choi from the Law School at Yonsei University, Professor Hyunkyung Kim from the Graduate School of IT Policy at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, and Secretary-General Jiyun Jung of the Korea Consumer Federation. Professor Heonyoung Kwon from Korea University was appointed as the inaugural chairperson. The term lasts until December 2024.

The committee will propose improvements, provide consultation, and conduct evaluations to enable Naver to autonomously promote user protection and service quality enhancement across various service areas such as shopping, communities, and content. It will also publish an annual performance report detailing self-regulation and coexistence activities. Additionally, the committee has selected key tasks such as ▲service inspections to prevent dark patterns ▲measures to counter abuse that degrade search quality ▲restructuring consumer compensation and dispute resolution processes, and will carry out improvement activities accordingly. The committee plans to hold regular monthly meetings and transparently disclose the discussions to the public.

Heonyoung Kwon, Chairperson of the Naver User Protection and Self-Regulation Committee, stated, "We will establish clear principles that Naver must uphold and present improvement guidelines centered on the content announced by the Platform Private Self-Regulation Organization." Yubong Seok, Head of Naver Service Operations, said, "We will work closely with the committee to foster a healthy platform ecosystem and strive to establish self-regulation principles so that the seeds of coexistence can take root."

Last August, Naver participated in the four subcommittees of the Platform Private Self-Regulation Organization and announced measures to improve contract practices with merchants and proactive responses to prevent consumer harm. It also declared eight principles for transparency in search and recommendation services and enhancing social value on platforms.

The government has been promoting the introduction of self-regulation in the online platform market. As part of this, related ministries such as the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Fair Trade Commission have decided to establish legal grounds for platform self-regulation organizations and to conduct platform surveys and self-regulation compliance checks. Major platform companies such as Naver, Kakao, Coupang, and Woowa Brothers (Baedal Minjok) are individually pursuing measures to strengthen their self-regulation capabilities.

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