Naver brings back star ratings after 5 years, drawing backlash from small business owners

Naver's reintroduction of a star rating system for restaurants and cafes after five years is drawing pushback from small business owners, who fear a return of so-called "rating terrorism" — coordinated low-score attacks by consumers. Naver says the risk of such abuse is low, citing AI monitoring systems and dedicated review staff.

Naver began displaying average star ratings on Place reviews for restaurants, cafes and other venues on Thursday, roughly five years after it effectively suspended the system in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time, malicious low ratings from some consumers had become a serious social issue. Criticism of platform review systems intensified after online food delivery app reviews were linked to extreme outcomes for some small business owners, including deaths by suicide. Naver responded by replacing star ratings with keyword-based reviews such as "friendly service" and "delicious food." But users continued to call for the ratings' return, and Naver began collecting star rating data again in April before making it public this month.

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business issued a statement Tuesday condemning the move. "Reviving the star rating system while ignoring the past suffering of small business owners caused by rating terrorism is a return to predatory platform behavior," the group said.

The federation said it "strongly regrets" what it called a decision that "forgets the painful history" in which small business owners and self-employed workers were pushed to the brink — including a restaurant owner who died of a cerebral hemorrhage — by indiscriminate rating attacks and malicious reviews.

The group also warned that the revival could pressure business owners into running review events or increase their advertising costs. "While the average star rating can be hidden, individual ratings remain visible, meaning businesses could once again be exposed to rating terrorism by malicious users," it said.

The federation further argued that incorporating star ratings accumulated before 2022 into current scores places an unfair burden on businesses operating today, and called on the government to conduct a broader review of star rating systems across online platforms.

The group urged Naver to introduce an option to hide individual star ratings and to establish effective remedies against malicious scores, and said it would continue monitoring cases of harm going forward.

Naver pushed back, saying the revamped system differs significantly from the one that drew criticism in the past. The company said businesses can choose whether to display their average star rating, and added that AI systems and monitoring teams would prevent rating abuse.

"We have revised our policy to prohibit the indiscriminate assignment of ratings below three stars, and we are responding through a system of more than 20 automated detection and monitoring tools powered by AI, combined with ongoing manual review by our operations team," a Naver official said.

On the decision to reintroduce star ratings, the company said it reflected "users' continued demand for intuitive information that lets them gauge overall satisfaction at a glance when searching for places." Other platforms popular with small businesses and consumers — including Baemin and Google Maps — already operate star rating systems.