Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon has apologized for a data exposure incident involving the company's Knowledge iN Q&A service and proactively reported the matter to the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) for investigation.
"After a Knowledge iN service update, links to past Knowledge iN responses by users registered in our public figure database were exposed in search results," Choi said Sunday. "I sincerely apologize for the concern this has caused."
"We will take a responsible approach to preventing further damage and recurrence so that affected users do not face additional difficulties," Choi added. "We will do our best to provide a trustworthy service."
Naver has sent separate apology emails to approximately 15,000 registered public figure users whose past Knowledge iN responses were exposed.
The incident occurred Friday during a service update when past Knowledge iN activity by celebrities became linked to and displayed alongside their real-name profiles. Posts by politicians, entertainers, and athletes subsequently spread across online communities, sparking controversy.
Naver identified the issue and completed a rollback to pre-update settings by around 10 p.m. the same day. The company also reported the incident to the PIPC and agreed to cooperate with any subsequent investigation. No personal information breach reports from affected individuals have been filed so far.
"We proactively reported to the PIPC based on our assessment that the unintended exposure of activity conducted under the assumption of anonymity could constitute a privacy violation," a Naver official said. "This is a separate matter from leaks of information such as phone numbers or home addresses."