Why is “jwiBaky” allowed, but not “daeggaeMoon” in Daum News comments?

Time Talk, the new comment service on Daum News. Courtesy of Kakao

Daum, the web portal run by Kakao, filtered out the Korean expression “daeggaeMoon,” a word used to criticize the supporters of former President Moon Jae-in, in the comments to news articles through its Safebot, which screens comments using artificial intelligence (AI). Kakao explained that since “daeggae,” which is an abbreviation of a Korean expression that means “even if they crack their skulls” including a disparaging word for a person’s head, “daegari,” the expression is categorized as offensive language, which is subject to filtering. However, the portal said expressions such as “dak-(chicken)-Geun-hye,” and “jwi-(rat)-Baky” were not abusive language, but only expressions mentioning animals. Expressions like “Moon-joi-in (Korean word for sinner),” and “Moon-jae-ang (disaster)” were not filtered out since they were categorized as political expressions.

According to the People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Park Sung-joong of the parliamentary Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, if a person uses expressions including “daeggae” or “daeggaeMoon” when commenting on Daum articles, Safebot automatically hides the comments.

Safebot, which Daum first applied to its comments in December 2020, is a filtering system using AI technology that automatically analyzes comments that violate the web portal’s policies including profane and offensive language.

Safebot deletes the entire comment with abusive or vulgar language and replaces it with musical notes or hides them. Naver and Daum, the nation’s two major portals, refused to disclose what words they deleted or concealed in comments to news articles to prevent any abuse (intentional manipulation) of comments.

DaeggaeMoon is short for “support Moon Jae-in even if they crack their skulls,” and is an expression disparaging fierce supporters of Moon Jae-in. It is also seen as a political expression criticizing extreme supporters of Moon. Naver accepts “daeggaeMoon” as a political expression, so its AI does not automatically delete or hide comments with the expression.

Kakao announced that it did not restrict comments on politics. But legislator Park Sung-joong argued that a political debate was expected since Kakao determined that expressions likening people to animals, such as “jwi-Baky” and “dak-Geunhye,” were not offensive.

Daum did not delete or hide comments including jwi-Baky and dak-Geun-hye, which respectively disparage the former presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye. The word “gyong,” an expression criticizing and belittling President Yoon Suk-yeol, was not filtered out either. Gyong is the word that results when you flip President Yoon’s last name written in Hangeul upside down and is used to criticize the Yoon Suk-yeol government for moving backwards in democracy.

Kakao explained, “Daegari is a word that refers to the heads of animals, but at the same time it is an offensive word when it is used to refer to the human head,” and said, “Daeggae, which includes the word daegari, is therefore seen as offensive, and expressions including this word will be concealed.” The portal also argued, “No arbitrary interpretation or judgment, including political interpretations are involved when classifying keywords. Keywords like Moon-joi-in (sinner), Moon-jae-ang (disaster), Jjit-Jaemyung, gaeddal (strong female supporters of Lee Jae-myung), Lee-joi-myung (Lee-crime-myung) are not concealed either.” The company added, “When it comes to keywords, we abide by the internet content grading service of the Korea Communications Standards Commission.”