South Korean news portals Naver, Daum comment section due to cyberbullying that took K-pop stars

Beginning mid-March, South Korean net portal Naver will quickly take away the remark characteristic on leisure information articles, and disable the ‘associated search time period’ service.

Their determination was made identified in a press release posted on their official blog yesterday (Feb 19).

Daum, one other main information channel, similarly removed its comment feature for leisure information pages final October. The ‘associated search’ operate was additionally eliminated, in addition to the show of realtime trending searches on its webpage.

Whereas Naver sought to protect its unique two-way communication with readers, they “grew to become more and more involved when [they] thought-about the distinctive case of celebrities, who’re the topic of a considerable amount of consideration.”

The corporate stated they are more and more involved in regards to the violation of celebrities’ private rights on-line. As they supply an area of their leisure articles permitting readers to go away feedback that vary from celebrities’ work to their personal lives, they really feel accountable for stated violation.

Two Okay-pop stars, Sulli and Goo Hara, dedicated suicide inside a span of six weeks in October and November respectively final 12 months. Each had been targets of cyberbullying, and their deaths introduced into focus the problem of cyberbullying in South Korea.

Though cyber violence is taken into account a critical crime in South Korea, the variety of prices laid are solely a small fraction of precise circumstances on the market and there is no good recourse for victims.

Goo Hara had been focused by abusive feedback regardless of being a victim of blackmail and revenge porn by her ex-boyfriend. She had attempted suicide back in May 2019.

Although she had simply made a comeback with a promotional tour in November final 12 months, her body was discovered a few days after.

Previous to her suicide in October, Sulli spoke out strongly against cyberbullying. In considered one of her final public appearances, she was in a tv programme alongside different Korean stars to share her expertise with malicious on-line feedback.

Within the wake of her demise, followers flocked to the presidential Blue Home to file a petition calling for web sites, similar to Naver and Daum, to undertake the usage of a real-name on-line remark system.

rainercheung@asiaone.com