Temu hit with landmark fine in South Korea over ‘deceptive' reward game
SEJONG, (South Korea), June 11 — South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Wednesday it has fined Temu for misleading South Korean consumers through deceptive promotional campaigns, marking the first regulatory sanction imposed on the Chinese e-commerce platform by the agency, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it has imposed a fine of 357 million won (US$260,000) on Temu for violating the law governing fair advertising, along with an order for corrective measures.
The watchdog said Temu advertised that users could easily receive cash-equivalent reward points by simply tapping a roulette-style game.
However, in reality, users were required to fulfil complex conditions, such as inviting multiple friends, in order to receive the rewards.
'Consumers typically decide whether to participate in such promotions based on initial advertising messages,' an FTC official said. 'But in Temu's case, they could only discover the actual requirements after investing a significant amount of time and effort.'
Separately, the FTC imposed a fine of 1 million won on Temu for violating the commerce act that requires platform operators to display their business identity information and terms of service clearly on the first page of the website. — Bernama-Yonhap
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