The new political tool? Manipulating online search rankings

Posted on : 2007-01-31 11:42 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Netizens bombard Internet portals with searches for their cause of the day

Office worker Lee Chang-seong, 35, was surfing the Web when he saw that ‘Netizen power’ was listed as the most searched term at one popular Internet portal. When he searched the phrase, Lee found, to his surprise, that one of the most popular sites that came up was one supporting disgraced cloning professor Hwang Woo-suk. Dr. Hwang’s supporters had manipulated the site’s search ranking by bombarding the server with false searches.

This is not a new technique - a special-interest group appealing to the general online public through the "popularity" of a searched item. In 2004, a high school student named Kang Ui-seok, who sought freedom of religion at his Christian-based school, tried to appeal to netizens by manipulating the most-searched list, but he failed to keep his issue high in the Internet rankings.

Internet-based fan communities for celebrities are another group that manipulates search rankings. On November 5 last year, fans of popular singer BoA deliberately searched the singer’s birth name and made it the day’s most searched word at Naver.com.

Because search rankings draw Internet users’ attention, the tactic of manipulating the rankings is becoming a more nuanced affair. For instance, Dr. Hwang’s supporters searched words that have no direct relation to the disgraced professor, such as ‘truth video,’ which, after piquing surfers’ curiosity, links to a nifty montage of clips of the disgraced Dr. Hwang alternated with scenes from the film, "The Matrix," in which one character implores the other to "seek the truth." The seemingly cryptic phrase ‘truth video,’ thanks to Dr. Hwang’s supporters, was the most searched word on Internet portal Naver as of January 30.

Media expert Byeon Hui-jae said, "A lot of people believe that popular word lists are objective, but there is a risk that some Internet users have manipulated a certain word search. Internet portal sites can’t control this practice, and it’s difficult for the government to prevent such manipulation under current laws."

The practice of manipulating public opinion via Internet search rankings is also gaining attention ahead of the presidential election in December. While there is some talk over regulation of user-created video contents online, there are no measures currently being thrown around to control searched words.

Experts say that it is technically quite difficult for election watchdog officials to regulate individual Internet users due to a lack of legal grounds.

Gang Hun-sik, an Internet advisor for Sohn Hak-gyu, one of the potential presidential candidates from the major opposition Grand National Party, said that such online manipulation "may influence public opinion, and current laws are too porous to effectively cope with the matter."

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]