Put a bit in the Internet giant Naver’s mouth

Small Internet business owners had many things to say about Korea’s biggest portal “Naver” at a policy conference held by the ruling Saenuri Party on Tuesday. The Internet giant was bombarded with complaints at the conference.

Lee Gu-beom, CEO of the real estate mediating portal Real Estate 114 said, “No portals in the world let people post real estate for sale by themselves.” Lee Byeong-seung, CEO of ComDoctor 119, said, “Our company has been driven to almost close down due to an advertisement of a fake ComDoctor company posted on Naver, which led to drastic drop of the number of orders.”

Naver, the market-dominating portal with 78.4 percent of the domestic search market share, has played on the market practically without restriction. However, adverse effects by Naver on small online businesses have grown too great to be ignored. Naver swiftly launches new businesses based on brilliant business items developed by promising ventures, and helps the businesses grow big by using its powerful marketing tools.

Naver is said to have often robbed small companies of their business models developed after years of toiling, which is as shameless as conglomerates’ extorting technologies from subcontractors. The Internet giant is also said to have driven countless number of small businesses, including contents, advertisement and real estate companies, and self-employed businessmen to go out of business by imposing heavy financial burdens. Experts say that Naver’s arrogation is the reason why promising IT ventures like those in Silicon Valley cannot be developed in Korea.

Small business owners say they are forced to pay high prices for online advertisement on Naver. Companies are closing down one after another due to Naver’s expanding into small businesses such as the webtoon, online novel, and real estate businesses. Naver has expanded its businesses by competing in the domestic market, not facing with other global giants such as Google, Facebook or Yahoo! Focusing on side businesses while setting aside its main searching business, Naver has been criticized for its search function as being enough just for elementary school homework.

Kim Sang-heon, CEO of Naver, said, “This is the first time I have heard from small Internet business owners. I would never been able to hear these stories without this opportunity.” Regardless of industries, dominating companies in any market should be closely monitored by the government to prevent adverse effects. As an Internet superpower, Naver should turn its eye to social responsibilities. The ruling Saenuri party and the government should correct the market order by applying the opinions of small businesses during the regular session of the National Assembly this fall.