Ministry of SMEs and Startups Listens to Small Business Owners' Concerns Over Online Platform Rating Systems

Coexistence Roundtable on Rating Systems HeldLegal Support for Small Business Owners and Expansion of Win-Win Growth AssessmentEfforts to Build a Fair Coexistence Ecosystem

On September 11, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it had held the "Coexistence Roundtable on Online Platform Rating Systems" at the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership. The purpose of the event was to listen to the difficulties experienced by small business owners in the field due to the star rating and review systems on online platforms, and to discuss possible measures to ensure fair coexistence.

The roundtable was attended by representatives from six online platform companies — Naver, Kakao, Baemin (Baedal Minjok), Coupang, Yanolja, and Nol Universe — as well as officials from related small business organizations, including the Korea Foodservice Industry Association, the Korea Hotel Association, and the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprises.

The platform companies shared their existing star rating and review management systems, which are intended to reduce unnecessary friction between consumers and small business owners and prevent damage caused by malicious reviews. Some platforms explained that they give business owners the autonomy to choose how reviews are displayed and managed, and restrict review or rating edits to a limited period after the initial posting to prevent malicious retroactive changes. Additionally, it was introduced that upon receipt of a business owner’s request to suspend a review, the platform immediately places the review under a 30-day temporary blind, or temporarily excludes the blinded review from the calculation of the average star rating.

Representatives of small business owners then raised key concerns, citing cases where consumers demanded free services or compensation and gave low ratings if their requests were denied, or where malicious fake reviews were left by users who had not actually used the service. They especially pointed out the structural problem that most satisfied customers do not leave reviews, while even a few malicious low-rating reviews can significantly lower a store’s overall rating.

Small business owners called for the establishment of objective standards to distinguish between legitimate reviews and unfair low ratings, and demanded more comprehensive objection and explanation procedures for business owners. They also urged that sanctions be strengthened against accounts that repeatedly post malicious reviews and pressed for online platforms to enhance their neutral dispute mediation roles.

The Ministry stated that it plans to support legal consultations and dispute responses from professional lawyers for small business owners who have suffered from unfair star rating or review-related issues through the "Unfair Trade Damage Counseling Center," and would expand the Win-Win Growth Assessment to encourage collaborative efforts in the online platform sector.

Lee Byeonggwon, Second Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups, said, “In order for disputes to be resolved fairly, the principle of equality of arms between parties must be upheld. However, the current review and rating system creates a one-sided structure in favor of consumers, and it is unacceptable that even a handful of malicious low ratings can harm decent small business owners. We urge platform companies to more clearly distinguish between legitimate consumer feedback and malicious review attacks, and to further strengthen protection measures so that small business owners are not unfairly disadvantaged.”

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