South Korea: Blogger's Phone Review Deleted by Samsung

South Korea: Blogger's Phone Review Deleted by Samsung

Posted By Lee Yoo Eun On 13 May 2011

In South Korea, an influential blogger's negative review of a Samsung smartphone was taken down due to pressure from the manufacturer. Internet users have harshly criticised the nation's biggest conglomerate, Samsung Electronics and Naver, the nation's biggest web portal, for censoring the blogger.

Hahm Young Min is an influential IT blogger who has several thousand daily readers on his blog, Hahm Young Min's DicaGallery. Hahm posted a review of Samsung's newly released smartphone, Galaxy S2 on April 2, 2011, entitled “Nine shortcomings of the Unusable Galaxy2S of Samsung”.

Several days later, the original post was nowhere to be seen. In its place, was this message from the blog host Naver: “This post has been temporarily suspended due to reader requests. The decision was taken in accordance with Korea Telecommunication Law, Article 44 Clause 2.”

A image of Hahm's now unavailable post, has meanwhile been circulated across the internet. Hahm is believed to have written the controversial review after using a test version of the GalaxyS2 phone for three weeks. In the review, he pointed out nine shortcomings of the new smartphone, such as the phone's resolution, the amount of heat emitted during use, the battery life, the price, the accessories, the screen's white balance, and minor glitches in the phone's camera.

The public response to the removal of the post was intense. Many, such as IT blogger Green Monkey criticized Samsung for violating free speech. The blogger said Naver's explanation was a lame excuse, and that Hahm's review was just one among hundreds he had published on gadgets and software:

Hahm's post has been ‘arbitrarily suspended', ‘due to reader requests'. I have a pretty good idea who this so-called ‘reader' is, but Naver shoved the damned

Telecommunication Law in our face, and trashed this post which had earned over 1443 comments and 191 “Likes”. […] In the removed post, Hahm clarified the purpose of his review: ‘When I looked at other blog posts on the Galaxy phone, most of them are either lavish with praise for the phone's strengths, but none of the weaknesses, OR they contain a social marketing request to buy the phone. I found the situation deplorable and started writing this post”.[…] Anyway, that Naver IT blogger [Hahm] had also written positive reviews on Samsung's other cellphones in the past. I am really curious to know who is really behind this ‘deletion' simply because Hahm mentioned the shortcomings of the Galaxy S2.

In a May 7 post, Hahm published the text of an email from Samsung explaining what their position:

We have attempted to file an adjustment request to you regarding some of the points you have made in your review since these may mislead other customers. But we acknowledge that there have been some missteps during the process.

Samsung also explained where they wished to see adjustments:

1. The smartphone you have reviewed was a test version of the phone. We request that you clarify this is not the phone released on the market. […] 2.Since it is a review, we understand your review is based on your subjective, personal opinion. But still, we ask you to deliver correct information to avoid any misconception the customers might have on our product's functions (due to your review).

Hahm accepted Samsung's points and acknowledged that he holds a greater responsibility as a featured ‘IT Power Blogger' on the Naver website.

As you may know, my post ‘Nine shortcomings of the Unusable Galaxy S2 has created huge buzz. That post was purely based on my own, personal opinion. But now I fully realize that as a ‘power blogger', unlike an ordinary blogger, I bear a responsibility in publishing this subjective review and choosing such an exaggerated word as ‘Unusable' for the title. […]

Because of Samsung's immense power in Korean society, many bloggers have approached this case from a censorship angle, while mainstream media instead focused on the abuse of power by influential bloggers. One news article on Money Today [8] [ko], criticized top bloggers for losing their objectivity while enjoying perks, such as financial benefits from sponsors, free coupons and gift sample packages, and invitations to fancy promotional events. Meanwhile, many bloggers have strongly protested Samsung's behavior as a threat to free speech online.

News articles like this, blame bloggers who write reviews of digital gadgets for becoming power figures. I think their intention in criticizing bloggers is to restrain the free exchange of opinions between customers. Since we do have freedom of expression, the blogger's review - no matter whether it is objective or not - should be protected as personal opinion, and a manufacturer filing an adjustment request on a blogger should be defined as the abuser of power. Am I the only one who thinks this way?

Naver and Daum, the nation's two biggest web portals, and other websites specializing in blogs, such as Tistory and Egloos annually select dozens of ‘power bloggers' in different categories to reward the most prolific bloggers and boost the blogosphere. When you are nominated to be a power blogger, higher readership is guaranteed, and you may be contacted for paid reviews and extra financial benefits from advertisements and sponsorship.

These sites also give you a ‘Power Blogger Badge' for your blog and a gift set. One Naver power blogger, Hilander, posted photos of various gifts [12] he received from Naver. They included gift coupons, business cards and card cases, and even a little crystal trophy.

As power bloggers gained more influence and favors, several started writing reviews that almost sounded like advertisements. More prudent bloggers, such as Hajaj1 commented [13] [ko] that since there are several IT power bloggers who post fraudulent reviews to favor certain brands, Hahm should have been extra careful in writing his review to dispel doubts about his integrity.

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