Fair Trade Commission Investigates Naver Over Exaggerated Advertising Controversy

The Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation into Naver. This follows allegations that Naver exaggerated user benefits while advertising its affiliated cards and paid memberships.

According to industry sources on the 12th, the Fair Trade Commission recently received a complaint alleging that Naver violated the Act on Labeling and Advertising by inflating the benefits of the 'Naver Hyundai Card' and the number of Naver Plus Membership subscribers, and has begun an investigation.

Naver advertised that by issuing and using the 'Naver Hyundai Card,' users could receive up to 5% Naver membership points plus an additional 5% points from the Naver Hyundai Card, totaling up to 10%, with a maximum of 11.42 million KRW in Naver Pay points per month.

However, according to the industry, when paying for Naver Plus Membership eligible products with the Naver Hyundai Card, users can earn up to 5% Naver points only on monthly spending up to 200,000 KRW. For other affiliated merchants, there is no limit on the accumulation cap, but the accumulation rate is lower at 1%.

There are also claims that the number of Naver Plus Membership subscribers was exaggerated. It is alleged that family and friends, who are paid members and can invite up to three people for free, were all included in the subscriber count to inflate the numbers.

Based on these complaints, the Fair Trade Commission is expected to examine whether Naver's membership-related advertisements constitute deceptive advertising by concealing, minimizing, or omitting important facts, or if they qualify as exaggerated advertising.

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