After a massive personal data leak, Coupang posted a "second statement," but it appeared with a different title when shared. When the link is shared on social media (SNS), the title shows the phrase "Coupang-related benefits and specials recommended by Coupang," not the statement. Customers criticized it, saying there was not even the minimum sincerity.
According to industry sources on the 8th, Coupang posted a new statement on its website the previous afternoon. It changed "exposure" of personal information to "leak" and said there was no new leak incident—that is the gist.
However, when this notice is shared via SNS such as KakaoTalk, phrases such as "Coupang-related benefits and specials recommended by Coupang" appear in the link title, and "Check out Coupang-related specials recommended by Coupang" appears in the description field.
If you share links to other pages on the Coupang website, the title and description display correctly according to each page's nature. The code that defines the shareable title and description differs by page, but for this statement page alone, the wrong information was entered and posted without review.
Specifically, if you search for the product "Hetbahn 12-pack" within Coupang and share the link from the product page, the title shows "Hetbahn white rice, 210g, 12-pack - instant white rice." The link description shows the star rating and number of reviews. Also, if you share the "Rocket Fresh" page, the fresh delivery section, the link title shows "Coupang-Rocket Fresh," and the description says that delivery arrives the next day. This is different from the new notice link, where a title and description unrelated to the content are displayed.
On top of that, the newly posted notice on the data leak does not differ much in substance from the previous statement. While acknowledging the leak, Coupang did not include clear details on the scale of damage or user compensation plans. Critics say the company is downplaying the scale of damage and omitted explanations on whether there was additional harm and how compensation would work, which users are most curious about.
Once it became known that the statement link title was labeled "benefits and specials," online communities and SNS saw reactions such as "What is this, not even a scrap-paper apology?" and "They are not recognizing the seriousness of the situation at all."
Coupang's second statement also came under fire. In the new statement, Coupang said, "The Korean National Police Agency announced there were no suspected cases of secondary damage using information leaked from Coupang," but deleted that phrase at the request of the Korean National Police Agency. The notice also did not include compensation plans for affected customers. Earlier, Park Dae-jun, the CEO of Coupang, answered "We will actively review it" when asked about compensation at the full session of the National Policy Committee on the 3rd.
Kim Myeong-ju, a professor in the Department of Information Security at Seoul Women's University, said, "It appears they were too quick to talk (about whether there was secondary damage) out of a rush for profit," and added, "Announcing it this way may be because of people leaving Coupang, but it is right to speak assuming the worst-case scenario."