The Fair Trade Commission said on the 15th that it imposed a total of 10.5 million won in fines on four operators—Coupang, Contents Wavve (Wavve), NHN Bugs (Bugs), and Spotify—over violations of the e-commerce law involving online shopping malls, OTT, and music services.
According to the Fair Trade Commission, these operators violated the Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce by deceiving consumers or failing to properly disclose information on transaction terms. The fines by operator are: ▲ Coupang 2.5 million won ▲ Contents Wavve 4 million won ▲ NHN Bugs 3 million won ▲ Spotify 1 million won.
First, in Apr. last year, Coupang raised the monthly fee for its paid membership "Wow Membership" from 4,990 won to 7,890 won and was found to have induced consent from consumers in a deceptive manner.
On the app's initial screen pop-up, Coupang placed the "Agree and keep receiving benefits" button large, in a noticeable blue, at the center bottom, while the "Do it later" button appeared small and faint white at the top right. Existing members had to press one of the two buttons to search for products or make payments, and if they chose "Do it later," the pop-up was set to reappear every five days.
At the product payment stage, the company also changed the existing "Pay" button to phrases such as "Agree and purchase," which the Fair Trade Commission said was designed to blur the line between agreeing to the price increase and making a payment. By contrast, the "Decide later and purchase" button was displayed in a hard-to-notice white, making it difficult for consumers to choose.
The OTT platform Wavve (Contents Wavve) and the music platform NHN Bugs made the process of canceling subscriptions unnecessarily complicated, hindering users from terminating their contracts.
NHN Bugs and Spotify also failed to properly provide information on products and transaction terms, and Spotify was found not to have fulfilled the obligation to display the operator of the cybermall.
A Fair Trade Commission official said, "There were acts of luring or transacting with consumers through deceptive methods while engaging in mail-order sales, and acts of failing to properly disclose key information that affects consumers' purchase choices and contract termination," adding, "Such acts are likely to hinder consumers' rational purchase choices and interfere with the exercise of the right to cancel contracts and withdraw offers, so we will step up monitoring."