Fair Trade Commission Cracks Down on SNS Fake Reviews Including Marketit

Administrative Order and Imposition of Penalty Surcharge

Two influencer marketing platforms, Marketit and Flow Marketing, have been sanctioned by the Fair Trade Commission for false advertising on social network services (SNS).

On the 24th, the Fair Trade Commission announced that it decided to impose corrective orders, public announcements, and a fine of 1 million KRW on Marketit and Flow Marketing for violating the Act on Labeling and Advertising.

According to the Fair Trade Commission, Marketit paid economic compensation to influencers recruited through its website and mobile app Inflcar from October 15, 2022, to October 3, 2023, to post a total of 3,944 promotional and recommendation advertisements for products from 267 advertisers on Instagram, but concealed and omitted this fact.

Flow Marketing also deceived by making influencers post a total of 2,653 promotional and recommendation advertisements for products from 88 advertisers on their personal blogs from January 4, 2021, to December 31, 2023, pretending as if they had actually used the products.

The Fair Trade Commission judged these advertising practices to constitute unfair advertising (false, exaggerated, or deceptive advertising).

The Fair Trade Commission explained, "This action is significant in that it independently sanctioned advertising agencies that systematically recruited numerous advertisers and influencers and actively produced false and deceptive reviews while posting review advertisements for advertisers' products."