It has been revealed that more than 22,000 cases of covert advertising, where sponsorships are hidden and posts are made in the form of reviews on social networking services (SNS), were detected last year.
On the 16th, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) announced that after monitoring covert advertisements on major SNS platforms such as Instagram, Naver Blog, and YouTube, a total of 22,011 posts suspected of violating the law were identified, and voluntary corrections were completed for a total of 26,033 posts.
By platform, Instagram had the highest number of violations with 10,195 cases, followed by Naver Blog with 9,423 cases, and YouTube with 1,409 cases.
By type, the most common case was when the advertisement disclosure was placed in less visible areas such as the "See More" section, description boxes, or comments, accounting for 10,553 cases (39.4%). Cases where no disclosure was made at all numbered 7,095 (26.5%), and cases where disclosures were made with small text or blurry images accounted for 4,640 (17.3%).
By industry classification, the highest proportions were 'Health and Hygiene Products' (5,200 cases, 23.6%), 'Clothing, Textiles, and Personal Items' (4,774 cases, 21.7%), and 'Food and Beverages' (2,492 cases, 11.3%).
This year, the KFTC analyzed that covert advertising has significantly increased in 'short-form content,' which are videos under one minute. Suspicious cases were detected as 1,736 on Instagram Reels, 1,209 on YouTube Shorts, and 736 on TikTok.
The KFTC interpreted this as a result of strengthened inspections on short-form content, which has recently emerged as a major advertising medium, and that video creators and advertisers have not yet fully recognized their obligation to disclose economic interests.
Regarding the 22,011 detected cases, voluntary corrections were requested from post creators and advertisers, resulting in a total of 26,033 corrections. The number of corrections exceeded the number of detections because, upon notification, additional posts that were not initially detected were voluntarily corrected.
Since starting monitoring in 2021, the KFTC plans to strengthen monitoring this year on short-form content and 'influencer cards,' which provide economic benefits such as partial cashback on product payments.
A KFTC official stated, "We plan to continue inspections of covert advertising this year to ensure accurate consumer information and guarantee reasonable purchasing choices," adding, "We will also produce and distribute a guide reflecting recent guideline revisions in the second half of the year."
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