Backlash Against Web Attacks Plaguing Daum

Korea’s second-largest Web portal Daum is likely to suffer major damage in the aftermath of the protests against U.S. beef imports, having tried to expand its power by jumping on the bandwagon of “candlelight populism.”

Industry experts said yesterday that Daum has stretched itself too thin to funnel public anger toward marketing purposes, and instead has become a haven of illegal cyber activities. Thus, the company is expected to suffer severe damage to its profitability.

The Korea Communications Standards Commission ruled that most threatening posts on Daum against companies that advertise on certain newspapers are illegal. Under the decision, 58 of 80 posts at issue are subject to mandatory deletion.

Daum immediately accepted the decision, but will suffer due to its negligence in cracking down on the illegal posts for a long time and because of looming liability lawsuits. Numerous insiders have warned Daum of its risky marketing strategies to catch up with industry leader Naver.

Despite the debacle, Daum has aided and abetted illegal activities waged on its online forum Agora to increase its market share. For example, it posted a banner on its site reading “100,000 Koreans chose Daum as their home interface today,” citing the number of visitors to the forum.

Worse for Daum, Naver has publicly waived its right to edit news on its main page.

Most securities analysts say Naver’s decision will positively minimize government regulations on Web search engines. In other words, Naver can free itself from problems and issues on the unchecked power or political bias of certain portal sites.

In a written statement, the Korea Internet Media Association criticized Daum, saying, “Naver is returning the news editing privilege to its users. On the contrary, Daum has taken advantage of the privilege in a distorted way to inflame illegal and violent acts and, thereby, boost visits to its site.”

During trading, Daum’s stock plummeted more than 10 percent but rebounded near closing. Its share finished down 4.67 percent, or 3,000 won (3.13 U.S. dollars) a share. On the other hand, Naver suffered a slight dip of 0.16 percent or 300 won (0.31 dollar). Daum’s fall was aggravated by content providers’ boycott of Web portals.

Daum’s own users are also joining in the criticism, though one group has rushed to support the portal.

One of Daum’s cyber communities “Public Campaign for the Rights of Media Customers,” a socialist organization which has advocated shutting down Korea’s three major dailies Dong-A Ilbo, The Chosun Ilbo and The JoongAng Ilbo, reinforced its support for Daum. The organization posted a banner on the upper middle section of its main page reading, “All Talks Through Daum.”

Some radical liberals who use Daum said they will leave the portal in protest of the commission’s decision.

An Internet expert said, “The Chinese characters of Daum’s name mean diverse voices. The portal started with the goal of reflecting diverse voices. Now, only radicals voice their opinions on the site. It will pay big for its bias.”