‘Coupang fined 1.4 trillion won for manipulating rankings and reviews’

FTC to file criminal charges against Coupang for “customer luring practices”,

[Sejong=Newsis] Reporter Kang Jong-min = Jo Hong-sun, Vice Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, announces the 2024 major business plan aimed at establishing a fair market economy supporting livelihoods and innovation at Sejong government Sejong City Hall on the 7th. 2024.02.08. Photo=Kang Jong-min,
, ‘Coupang’s subsidiary CPILB (hereafter Coupang), a PB product company, has been sanctioned by the Fair Trade Commission for manipulating search rankings to boost their own products (directly purchased products and PB products) and mobilizing employees to write reviews. In response, Coupang strongly protested, calling it an unprecedented sanction worldwide and hinting at the possibility of halting Rocket Delivery and investments.’,
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, ‘On the 13th, the FTC announced that it will impose a corrective order and a fine of 140 billion won on Coupang for luring customers with hierarchical deception and will report Coupang and CPILB to the prosecution.’,
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, ‘According to the investigation results, the FTC determined that Coupang deceived consumers by manipulating search ranking algorithms to increase sales of their own products and mobilizing employees to write reviews for less-recognized in-house products. From February 2019 to July 2023, Coupang exposed a minimum of 64,250 of their own products (58,658 directly purchased products and 5,592 PB products) to the top-ranking search results. As a result, the total sales of promotional products increased by 76.1%, and the exposure per customer increased by 43.3%.’,
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, ‘The FTC also revealed that Coupang mobilized 2,297 employees from February 2019 to July 2023 to write positive reviews and give high ratings to PB products. The cases identified by the FTC alone include reviews for a minimum of 7,342 PB products totaling 72,614 reviews.’,
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, ‘The FTC stated that Coupang’s actions caused harm to 210,000 platform entrants selling over 4 billion products whose search rankings were artificially manipulated, severely restricting consumer choice. Jo Hong-sun, Vice Chairman of the FTC, commented, “Consumers were deceived into purchasing Coupang’s products under the misconception that they were superior to the products of platform entrants.”‘,
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, ‘Coupang expressed regret over the FTC’s decision to impose excessive fines and initiate criminal proceedings exceeding half of the total fines imposed on the top 500 domestic companies last year for unprecedented “product display” issues, stating that it would actively demonstrate the unfairness through administrative litigation.’,
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, ‘Coupang emphasized, “If the FTC prohibits Coupang from recommending Rocket Delivery products, the current Rocket Delivery service will no longer be possible. The 3 trillion won logistics investment for nationwide 100% free delivery and the 22 trillion won investment for purchasing Rocket Delivery products will inevitably be halted.” Coupang has temporarily canceled the groundbreaking ceremonies scheduled for the 20th, including the one in Busan, and the construction start of logistic centers in Ichon, Gyeonggi-do, and Gimcheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do.’, ‘article_split’,
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