A Man in His 60s Fined 3 Million Won for Clicking Site 380 Times to Disrupt Competitor's Naver Ads

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] A man in his 60s who clicked on a competitor's site hundreds of times, causing advertising fees to be deducted and making the site invisible in the 'Naver Powerlink' ad section, was confirmed guilty in the Supreme Court's final appeal.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Kim Jae-hyung) announced on the 6th that it upheld the original sentence of a 3 million won fine in the final appeal of Yang Mo (68), who was indicted on charges including obstruction of business.

Yang, who worked as the CEO of document appraisal company A, was indicted for clicking on competitor company B's site about 380 times in July 2017 by searching specific keywords such as 'handwriting appraisal,' thereby unfairly charging advertising fees to company B.

Naver Powerlink is designed to display advertisers' sites at the top when portal users search for keywords set by the advertisers. Each time a user clicks, the advertising fee is deducted from the advertiser's prepaid account, and when the account balance is exhausted, the site disappears from the Powerlink ad section.

The first and second trials recognized Yang's charges as guilty and both sentenced him to a 3 million won fine. However, the second trial acquitted him of 'invalid clicks' and convicted him of 'valid clicks.' The Supreme Court agreed with this judgment and confirmed it as is. The court stated, "There is no error in law in the original judgment that found guilty the part where fees were charged to the competitor as 'valid clicks.'"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.