Newspaper Association: "Naver's Use of News for AI Training Is Unfair"

"Unfair Contract in Partnership Terms"
Submission of Opinion to the Fair Trade Commission

The Korea Newspaper Association (Chairman Lim Chae-cheong) announced on the 28th that it has requested the Fair Trade Commission to improve Naver's news partnership terms, stating that "it is unfair for Naver's generative AI, HyperCLOVA X, to use news content for learning."

Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, is unveiling the large language model 'Hyper ClovaX' for the super-large artificial intelligence (AI) service at the 'Team Naver Conference Dan23' held on August 24 at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Naver maintains that HyperCLOVA X's use of news content for learning is based on the news partnership terms and is therefore not problematic. However, legal experts view HyperCLOVA X's use of news as violating △the 'Purpose and Definition' clause of the news partnership terms and △the Fair Contract Act’s obligations of explanation, interpretation favorable to the customer, and the principle of good faith and trust, constituting an 'unfair contract.'

In the opinion submitted to the Fair Trade Commission on the same day, the Newspaper Association argued, "Although Naver established the basis for use through a 'terms and conditions' agreement common to partner companies, it has not gone through the individual permission process from the copyright-holding media companies, and allowing the bypassing of this series of procedures constitutes an unfair contract."

It added, "The government must accurately identify and rectify the problems of the news content partnership terms that are subject to unfairness controversy," emphasizing, "Existing unfair terms should be thoroughly reviewed (abolished), and new terms must be created through a transparent public discourse process."

The Newspaper Association also demanded that the government specifically include related provisions in the partnership terms to ensure appropriate compensation is paid to media companies for HyperCLOVA X’s news learning. Furthermore, it added that when determining compensation for news works, Naver should be able to decide after sufficient consultation with media companies.

Regarding Naver’s refusal to disclose the scale and scope of news data used for generative AI learning to media companies, the Newspaper Association stated, "The government should require disclosure of information on the news data used for HyperCLOVA X’s learning, including the basis for calculating usage fees and the purpose of use."

Additionally, the Newspaper Association proposed that exceptions be stipulated in the Fair Trade Act and related laws to allow media companies, which have relatively weaker bargaining power compared to Naver, to form coalitions and conduct collective negotiations with Naver.

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