Eradicating 'Online Fishing'... Fair Trade Commission Pushes for Amendment of the Electronic Commerce Act

Fair Trade Commission, Party-Government Council Meeting on 21st
New Prohibition Rules for Dark Patterns Causing Major Consumer Harm
Businesses Using Deceptive Tactics to Be Publicly Disclosed
'Dark Pattern Guidelines' to Be Established Within First Half of This Year

Mr. A recently signed up on a website to take advantage of a '30-day free movie viewing' offer. Although the advertisement stated that he could cancel anytime during the trial period, he postponed canceling because it was difficult to find the cancellation procedure on the homepage. Later, he received an alert from the site saying that his account had been converted to a paid service and a payment had been made. Mr. A complained to customer service, but the representative said, "You agreed to all the terms when you signed up, and the payment is non-refundable."

Mr. B experienced a frustrating situation while searching for accommodation for his summer vacation through an application (app). The lodging was clearly advertised as 200,000 KRW per night, but when he proceeded to the payment page, the price had changed to 250,000 KRW. It turned out that there was a small print note stating that taxes and service charges would be added. Mr. B lamented, "I feel like I was tricked by the low price."

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has taken decisive action to regulate dark patterns (deceptive marketing tactics). Consumer harm and dissatisfaction have accumulated due to businesses' cunning tactics, and voices calling for the competition authority to devise countermeasures have emerged. However, since broad regulations could stifle legitimate marketing, the KFTC plans to also promote voluntary improvements within the market.

On the 21st, the KFTC reported the ‘Policy Direction for Consumers Against Online Dark Patterns’ at a government-party consultation meeting. Dark patterns refer to web or application (app) designs cleverly crafted to make consumers unintentionally make purchase decisions. Judging the dark pattern issue to be serious, the KFTC has categorized frequently occurring behaviors and decided to establish improvement measures to effectively curb them.

The KFTC classified 13 types of dark patterns that pose significant risks of consumer harm. Among them, six types?including ‘hidden renewals,’ where free services are converted to paid or subscription fees are increased without notifying consumers?will be regulated by amending the Electronic Commerce Act. This is because current laws have limitations in regulation. Particularly, hidden renewal practices are also being addressed with regulatory measures in the United States and the European Union (EU). Accordingly, the KFTC is considering adding prohibitions against dark pattern behaviors to the Electronic Commerce Act or imposing obligations on businesses to notify consumers in advance of monthly subscription fee increases.

A KFTC official explained, “Although the current law allows applying provisions against deceptive and false acts toward consumers under the Electronic Commerce Act, various types of hidden renewal practices are spreading while legal support is insufficient.” The official added, “We will actively support legislative discussions when they take place in the National Assembly.”

Before legislation is enacted, the government will proactively implement feasible policies. Together with the Consumer Agency and consumer organizations, the KFTC plans to compare and analyze which businesses frequently use dark pattern tactics and what types of tactics they mainly employ, then disclose the findings. This will help consumers make rational choices when using online malls and mobile apps and encourage businesses to refrain from deceptive and bait marketing.

Efforts for market self-improvement will also be pursued simultaneously. The KFTC plans to establish the ‘Online Dark Pattern Damage Prevention Guidelines’ within the first half of the year. This is to clearly inform businesses about what constitutes problematic behavior. The guidelines will be drafted by categorizing actions into those that potentially violate current laws, problematic behaviors difficult to regulate under current laws, and behaviors that become problematic when combined with deceptive acts. Once completed, the guidelines will be shared with business associations to encourage voluntary correction of problematic behaviors in the market.

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