Coupang "Transparent Operation of Employee Reviews, No Manipulation"... Refuting Fair Trade Commission's Claims

"Fair Trade Commission Claims Even Honest Reviews Are Manipulated"
"Only 0.3% of Employee Reviews, Transparently Managed"

Coupang has denied the Fair Trade Commission's (FTC) allegations that it manipulated search rankings through algorithm manipulation and employee purchase reviews, after being fined 14 million won on the 14th.

On this day, Coupang presented the "5 key pieces of evidence that there was no manipulation of employee reviews" through its newsroom.

First, Coupang responded to the FTC's claim that "biased high ratings from employees distorted consumers' purchasing choices" by stating, "They even claim that honest employee reviews are manipulation." Additionally, Coupang attached honest reviews from employee product testers such as "I absolutely cannot recommend this to others" and "I was disappointed by the visuals and taste, so I couldn't eat it."

Coupang also stated that employees who consistently gave 1-star ratings were not penalized in any way for writing such reviews. This was a rebuttal to the FTC's previous claim that "employees were continuously managed to prevent them from writing negative purchase reviews," labeling it as false information.

Coupang emphasized that employee tester ratings were even lower than those of general testers. This directly refutes the FTC's opinion that employees gave near-perfect reviews to private brand (PB) products. According to Coupang's comparison of average scores from employee and general testers between February 2019 and June 2022, employee testers gave an average rating of 4.79, while general testers gave 4.82.

Furthermore, Coupang explained that employee reviews accounted for only 0.3% of the total. During the entire period in question, there were 25 million PB product reviews, with employee reviews numbering 70,000 (0.3%). Coupang pointed out, "They are misleading by emphasizing only a small number of comments as if all of them were biased reviews."

Finally, Coupang stated, "Employees wrote objective reviews through the tester program and disclosed their authorship, operating in a fair and transparent manner."

Meanwhile, Coupang plans to actively prove the unfairness of the FTC's 1.4 billion won fine and prosecution decision through administrative litigation in court.