Naver, the operator of South Korea’s main portal website and search engine, on Wednesday rolled out a new set of restrictions for its online news comment system in light of burgeoning controversy over an opinion-rigging scandal that involved abuse of the system.

Naver has capped the number of times a user can click “agree” or “disagree” on a comment at 50 times within a 24-hour timeframe. Until now, there had not been any restrictions on the number of times a user could click “agree” or “disagree.” Users, meanwhile, are allowed to click either “agree” or “disagree” only once on a single comment.

The number of comments that a user can write on an article per day is now capped at three. Previously, the limit was 20 comments. Moreover, users who write a comment must wait 60 seconds before posting another comment, compared to the previous 10-second limit.

Naver said it would continue to work on ways to improve its comment listing system, and utilize artificial intelligence and programs to prevent attempts to abuse the portal’s news comment system.

Despite the new restrictions, opposition lawmakers staged a protest in front of Naver’s headquarters on Wednesday to demand a formal investigation into the firm for its part in creating and controlling a news dispersal system that they said can be manipulated to sway public opinion.

The controversy was sparked by a revelation that a power blogger named “Druking” and ex-members of the ruling party had used a computer program that uses borrowed ID’s to artificially ramp up the number of clicks on “agree” on comments on articles to sway public opinion.

In Korea, most people read the news by clicking on the stories selected, arranged and displayed by Naver on its main portal page and news section. For this reason, only the articles featured as “top stories” on Naver tend to get read by the public.

At the bottom of every news article provided by Naver is a section where users can freely leave comments. The comments that receive the most clicks on “agree” are automatically placed at the top of the comment section at the bottom of the page.

Usually, people tend to read only the top comments as it takes time to scroll and read all the posted comments. And local studies have shown that the “most-agreed” comments were influential enough to affect people’s perceptions of figures discussed in a news story.

In light of the so-called “Druking” incident, members of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party have accused Naver of aiding efforts by the Moon Jae-in administration to rig public opinion.

“Naver, which stood by and aided opinion-rigging forces such as Druking, cannot be free of charges of manipulating public opinion,” said Rep. Kim Sung-tae, the Liberty Korea Party’s floor leader, during Wednesday’s protest.

Kim also accused the administration of turning a blind eye on such opinion rigging, citing how Senior Presidential Secretary for Public Affairs Yoon Young-chan was the former vice president of Naver.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)