Manipulating algorithms? South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang is investigated by antitrust authorities

The fire accident at the Deping Logistics Center, the sales dispute of Japanese Rising Sun Flag products, and the death of the Coupang Eats store owner , recently, there have been endless topics about the e-commerce giant Coupang in South Korea . Coupang, which has been growing rapidly with "rocket delivery", has suddenly stepped on the brakes due to some negative topics about the company .

Before it could get out of the quagmire, Coupang fell into it again!

According to the Korea Herald, the Korea Fair Trade Commission launched an investigation into Coupang and conducted an on-site inspection of Coupang's headquarters office in Seoul . It is reported that South Korea's antitrust regulator FTC ( Korea Fair Trade Commission ) accused Copang of violating the Fair Trade Act .

One of the allegations alleges that Coupang interfered with the search algorithm on its platform to make its own-brand products appear at the top of the page, while products from other companies were pushed to the bottom and given less exposure.

Secondly, the Korea Fair Trade Commission is also investigating allegations that Coupang forced sellers to "provide price differences." For example, they were required to provide the cheapest price, and if they did not supply products at a lower price than other e-commerce platforms, they would be adversely affected.

In addition, the report also stated that South Korea's antitrust regulator is also investigating whether Coupang had coerced sellers to buy advertisements and retaliated by excluding them from the delivery services subscribed by members .

Similar cases have occurred in South Korea before. Last year, Naver, another South Korean e-commerce giant, relied on its status as the largest search engine and major portal in South Korea to secretly manipulate algorithms to increase the exposure of sellers affiliated with its shopping platform, seriously affecting the interests of sellers on other e-commerce platforms .

In the end, this behavior resulted in a huge fine of approximately 158 million yuan from the South Korean government .

Coupang's chairman of the board, Kim Beom-seok, has repeatedly stated: "Our goal is to make users think about how they would live without Coupang?" But I don't know how Coupang, which has always been determined to become the No. 1 e-commerce company in South Korea, can break the current dilemma that has been criticized by thousands of people.

Antitrust

South Korea

Coupang