A Coupang delivery truck is parked in front of a Coupang logistics center in Seoul./Courtesy of News1

Coupang has reduced its six-step member withdrawal process to four steps, according to reports on the 8th. Earlier, after it came to light that the personal information of 33.7 million Coupang members had been leaked, criticism grew that signing up was easy but withdrawing was difficult. Coupang members are saying, "After the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) said it would launch an investigation into the withdrawal process following the personal information leak, isn't it that Coupang belatedly fixed it?"

Coupang is said to have revised the member withdrawal process late at night on the 7th. Until now, for a Coupang member to withdraw, they had to go through six steps: accessing My Coupang, identity verification, moving to the PC version, identity verification again, checking usage history, and a survey. There were additional steps such as confirming a notice that discouraged withdrawal in the middle. By contrast, when signing up for a Coupang membership, you only need to agree to the terms of service and enter your name, email, and mobile phone number.

To cancel Coupang membership, users previously had to tap the past PC version button to switch the screen from the app to the website (top of photo), but this step is removed starting the night of the 7th./Courtesy of Coupang app screenshot

This time, Coupang removed the "move to the PC version" step from the member withdrawal process. As a result, Coupang members can withdraw without moving to the PC version from the mobile app. In addition, the subjective survey changed from mandatory to optional, allowing users to skip it.

Earlier, on the 4th, the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) launched an emergency fact-finding investigation into Coupang's member withdrawal process. This followed concerns that it could constitute an "act restricting users' right to terminate" under the Telecommunications Business Act.

The Fair Trade Commission is also said to have conveyed to Coupang the intent that it should voluntarily improve the "member withdrawal process."

Accordingly, among Coupang members, there is talk that "once the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) and the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) intervened, Coupang belatedly began improving the withdrawal process," and that "if the personal information leak incident had not occurred, the withdrawal process would not have been improved."

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