The South Korean search engine Naver has cancelled a proposed new advertising initiative, following a negative public response over the company's alleged abuse of power by promoting its own payment tool, NPay. The original plans were to modify Naver's 'power link' search ad service for NPay member merchants. The changes would have meant the addition of an icon to both mobile and online ads, promoting a 3% bonus on Naver ads. However, following the announcement of the plans, Naver suffered a backlash, with critics claiming that the new promotion would play on the company's dominant position in the market, and take customers away from competitors. Currently, the company has a significant share of the South Korean search market. Following Google's record-breaking fine by the EU for abusing its position of dominance, it was also pointed out the change could have broken fair trade rules in South Korea.Â
