Portal site Naver has introduced a system to disclose the past comments of users starting on March 19th. Before the introduction, people could decide on his/her own whether to disclose their past comments, but now every comment written will be disclosed. In addition, many criticized that it is difficult to specify bad commenters, so after the reorganization, users’ nicknames and profile photos registered in their membership information will also be made public. Naver says such a system could help reduce malicious comments that have emerged as a serious social problem in recent years and be used as a means to strengthen the original net function of commenting. The system implemented has delved into the issue of anonymity prevalent in the Internet culture and will play a major role in the Internet society's ability to self-purify itself.
In fact, Naver has been working on measures to solve problems with comments since before this system was implemented. For example, the political news section does not provide netizens with what the most empathetic comments are, and people are not allowed to write comments at all on entertainment articles that can lead to indiscriminate malicious comments about celebrities. However, unlike some of the compulsory and one-dimensional past measures, the system implemented this time directly pointed out the problem of anonymity. Looking at attitudes toward the text written using our real name, such as self-introduction letters and assignments, people refine the text several times to see if their own writing is based on facts or is not too straightforward. However, if they write anonymously, the limitations that real names provide disappears. Even if people use nicknames, they won't be able to dismiss them all as false or exaggerated writing However, it is true that there are many comments that people would never say if their identity is revealed; freedom of expression balanced with the subject of responsibility is a very difficult topic. Contrary to the mature atmosphere of sanctifying freedom of expression, there is a low perception that there should be a sense of responsibility. That sense of responsibility could grow even more when people realize that someone else knows who they are. Therefore, Naver's actions have come up with measures to protect the harmony between the two. They have introduced a smart system that restricts malicious comments by giving them the perception that their information is slightly revealed their identities.
The past comment disclosure system, which was introduced to create an Internet culture with sound communication and more advanced criticism, will set a good precedent. Naver said they will filter the comments section by supplementing the system in the future by introducing features that can block comments from specific users. This winning move would allow netizens to look back on what they have said and done. Also, it could serve as an opportunity to prevent bad comments and restore the original function of public opinion. As such, portals should make efforts to improve their comment function so that they can reduce the adverse function of comments. This would be the way for portals to fulfill their social responsibilities.