A screenshot of Naver's web novel section / Source from Naver

On October 10, Naver announced that it will actively accept the arbitration of 'Joint committee for co-prosperity with venture businesses' (tentative title) and the 'Recommendation for the development of Internet search service' of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and will spur search service improvement in order to increase fairness and transparency in managing the portal as a platform provider.

Following the recommendation of the Science Ministry, Naver has made its search results more distinct from search ads on October 8. The company now plans to actively accept and fulfill the Science Ministry's recommendation in order to promote user rights and create better business ecosystems.

As a follow up to its plan, Naver will further expand its partnership with smaller contents providers with specialized contents for symbiotic growth and also will increase fairness and transparency in managing the portal.

Thus, Naver is expected to place its own services, such as web novels and webtoons, and external contents in an equal position in search result. It will also open doors to more content providers with specialized contents in various fields so that their high quality contents could be spread through Naver.

For example, if user types in the search term 'web novel' into Naver's search box, specialized content providers such as 'Joara' and 'Munpia' will appear together with Naver's own web novel service in an equal position. Naver will apply to the actual service as soon as it finishes discussing the details with the related companies.

On the other hand, Naver plans to come up with a variety of co-prosperity measures such as promoting promising start-ups and giving marketing support, following the recommendation of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.