"Ali Induces Paid Subscriptions with Dark Patterns, Faces Corrective Actions and Fines"

KCC Notifies Alibaba of Corrective Measures
Plans to Hear Operator's Opinion on Violations

Chinese online shopping mall 'AliExpress' (hereinafter Ali) is expected to face corrective measures and fines from the government after violations such as false and exaggerated notifications were discovered.

On the 30th, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) completed a fact-finding investigation regarding Ali's violation of prohibited acts under the Telecommunications Business Act and notified corrective action plans.

The KCC revealed that, after investigating Ali's paid membership subscription and cancellation process, they found ▲ false and exaggerated notifications of membership benefits and cleverly induced paid payments (dark patterns) ▲ user disadvantageous practices such as refunding annual fees with coupons. Dark patterns refer to user interfaces cleverly designed to deceive users online.

Among Ali's paid membership subscription methods, there is a type that provides only cashback and 24-hour customer center usage benefits during a 30-day free trial period, and all membership benefits can be used upon payment of the annual fee.

However, during this free trial period, Ali falsely and exaggeratedly notified users that 'product discount coupons' could be used, even though they could not be used, to attract users.

For membership users who could not use product discount coupons, a 'Get Coupon' button was displayed, and clicking it induced payment of the annual fee.

Ali restricted users' cancellation rights without justifiable reasons by refunding the remaining annual fee balance in coupons usable only on Ali instead of refunding to the original payment method when users canceled their membership early.

Regarding this, it is reported that Ali corrected some violations, such as canceling card refunds, at the time of the KCC investigation.

Furthermore, Ali did not notify users of important matters they should know during the membership payment process, such as ▲ the fact of paid annual fee payment ▲ restrictions on the use of discount coupons and refund coupons.

The KCC plans to finalize corrective orders and the scale of fines after hearing the business operator's opinions and going through procedures such as committee deliberation and resolution regarding the above violations.

This investigation is a measure to protect users from increasingly sophisticated and complex online dark patterns.

A KCC official stated, "We will strengthen monitoring of violations of the Telecommunications Business Act by platform operators, including e-commerce operators, and respond strictly to legal violations in the future."