Naver Place star ratings, which disappeared about five years ago amid controversy over so-called "rating terror," have returned. But the ratings, revived to help consumers make choices, have instead become a source of concern for small business owners. Disclosing ratings exposes evaluations directly, while hiding them can invite suspicion over "why they were concealed."
Starting the 9th, Naver began sequentially disclosing each business's average star rating and individual review ratings on the main screens where Place reviews are shown. The company resumed collecting star ratings last April and, after about three months of a verification period, disclosed them to users again.
Naver star ratings were once the most-referenced indicator when choosing restaurants, cafes, hospitals, and hair salons. But the situation changed in 2021 when malicious reviews and so-called "rating terror" emerged as a social problem. Following incidents such as a restaurant owner who died after suffering from malicious reviews, calls for platform accountability grew, and Naver halted new star rating collection in October of that year, shifting to a qualitative review system centered on photos, keywords, and text.
Behind the reintroduction of star ratings after about five years lies competition in map services. As competing services such as Google Maps and Kakao Map operate star rating-based reviews, and with Google's map service in Korea expected to grow more competitive, Naver decided to again provide an intuitive evaluation indicator that allows users to compare at a glance. Naver plans to maintain its existing rich qualitative reviews while also providing star ratings to enhance the utility of reviews.
The average star rating is calculated by combining existing star ratings accumulated before October 2021 with newly collected star ratings from April this year onward. However, business operators can directly choose whether to disclose them. For businesses that opened after 2021 and have no existing star rating data, non-disclosure is the default, and those wishing to disclose can set it directly in Smart Place.
The problem is the dilemma facing small business owners. In some small business owner communities, a standard is even being shared: "Disclose if the average is 3.5 or higher, and consider non-disclosure below that." This reflects concern that, in Korea, high 4-point scores out of 5 are often perceived as the normal evaluation, so even receiving only a 3-point score can make a business appear more poorly rated than it actually is. Conversely, hiding star ratings raises the possibility that consumers may take it negatively, deepening the dilemma between disclosure and non-disclosure.
Some small business owners view it positively. One owner in a small business community expressed confidence, saying, "It seems that review events have reduced the ability to distinguish good restaurants," and "If we get good star ratings, we could grow into a truly capable establishment." Another owner said, "On delivery apps, I've received 1-point terror for absurd reasons, but Naver prevents that, so it seems fine."
Naver has also strengthened its review policy alongside the star rating system to prevent past controversies from recurring. Reviews can only be edited within three months of writing, and repeatedly leaving low star ratings below 3 points without particular grounds or attempting to distort a specific business's rating is subject to sanctions. Sanctions are not imposed simply for giving a low score; rather, factors such as repetitiveness, verification of visits, and review posting patterns are judged comprehensively.
To this end, Naver operates about 20 types of AI-based automatic detection systems together with manual review by operators. It also discloses the average star rating tendency of review writers so that other users can reference whether a given user tends to give low scores as a matter of habit.
Naver also plans to revamp its Place review screen within the year. It plans to maintain keyword-centered qualitative reviews while improving them to be more intuitive, and to provide average star ratings alongside them so that consumers can more easily compare and choose places.
