Yeo: "Additional sanctions prepared for online dark patterns such as 'cancellation and withdrawal obstruction'"

Ruling Party and Government Hold Online Dark Pattern Eradication Measures Meeting
Park Dae-chul "Including 6 Types of Blind Spots Such as Hidden Renewals"

The ruling party and the government have decided to push for legislation to regulate so-called 'dark patterns,' deceptive marketing tactics that mislead consumers online.

On the 21st, the People Power Party and the government held a party-government meeting on measures to eradicate online dark patterns, agreeing that some types of dark patterns are difficult to regulate under current laws and deciding to establish measures to protect consumers. Following the meeting, Park Dae-chul, chairman of the Policy Committee, told reporters, "We have decided to prepare measures to protect consumers from dark patterns that induce confusion and mistakes in the online market."

Dark patterns refer to marketing tactics that induce consumer confusion, mistakes, or irrational spending. In his opening remarks at the meeting, Chairman Park said, "Many of you have probably experienced clicking on a product advertised as the lowest price during online shopping, only to find hidden costs revealed at the final payment stage, feeling 'tricked' and embarrassed. We will prepare effective eradication measures so that consumers do not fall victim to such deceptive tactics."

The party and government agreed to establish legal grounds to impose corrective orders and fines on six types of dark patterns?hidden renewals, cancellation/withdrawal obstruction, sequentially disclosed pricing, incorrect hierarchy, pre-selected specific options, and repeated interference?that cannot be penalized under current laws among the 13 types of dark patterns.

Park Dae-chul, Policy Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, is speaking at the meeting of the policy committee chairmen of the three parties on measures against jeonse fraud held at the National Assembly on the 21st. From the left, Kim Min-seok, Policy Committee Chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea, Park Dae-chul, Policy Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, and Kim Yong-shin, Policy Committee Chairman of the Justice Party. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Chairman Park stated, "To encourage voluntary improvements by businesses, we will distribute online dark pattern prevention guidelines in the first half of the year and, in the second half, conduct and announce comparative analyses of dark patterns in marketing practices by businesses across three major e-commerce sectors. We urged voluntary improvements in the first phase targeting comprehensive shopping malls such as open markets and home shopping, the second phase focusing on major sector-specific shopping malls like clothing, beauty, and luxury goods, and the third phase covering key sectors such as entertainment, app markets, and delivery utilities. However, for behaviors that do not improve, we will actively enforce current laws to correct them."

Han Ki-jung, chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, said, "Since last year, we have been considering ways to efficiently suppress types of consumer harm without hindering normal corporate marketing activities. We will faithfully reflect the outcomes of the party-government meeting in future consumer policy operations."

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