Kakao has decided to abolish the entertainment news comments and person related search terms following the portal site, and reorganize the news service based on the media subscription.

Mr. Kakao's co-representative Yeo Min-soo and Cho Soo-yong held a press conference at the Pangyo headquarters today (May 25) and announced plans to reorganize the news and search service.

This reorganization comes from a situation where malicious comments are remarked as a social issue following the death of singer and actor Choi Jin-ri recently.

Representative Yeo said, "The start of comment service was to create a healthy public sphere, but now we can not but acknowledge the side effects."

"There are many comments that the level of personal blasphemy in the entertainment section's news comments has undermined the public health, as the recent unfortunate case reveals."

"We found that related search terms also had serious side effects such as privacy infringement and defamation, unlike the original intention to provide users with various information and improve the convenience of search."

In the future, we plan to reinforce regulations on hate speech and proficiency in comments, and to reinforce personality protection in real-time issue search terms and query auto-completion.

Kakao also decided to reorganize the following news service.

Representative Yeo said, "After a long discussion, we aimed to create 'subscription-based content service that only Kakao can do.'"

It included abolition of commentary services and granting media autonomy, Kakao explained.

"There may be risks in terms of business," Ye added. "But I believe this decision is the beginning of how we can fulfill our social responsibilities and create a healthier society."

(Photo = provided by Yonhap News TV, Yonhap News)