Korea’s FTC to complete probe on AliExpress, Temu by July

FTC Chairman Han Ki-jeong

The Fair Trade Commission’s investigation into alleged violations by Chinese e-commerce platforms AliExpress and Temu will be completed by July at the latest, according to the chairman of the antitrust agency.

“We have confirmed the e-commerce law violations by AliExpress and Temu and plan to bring them to a review soon,” said FTC Chairman Han Ki-jeong on Friday.

Han added that the investigation into AliExpress will be completed by the end of June, and that into Temu by July.

AliExpress is accused of misrepresenting prices by displaying false original prices and thus false discount rates.

Temu is alleged to have misled users by offering discount coupons upon installation of its application, making it appear as if the application had to be installed within a certain period of time to receive the discount.

The FTC’s investigation into Google LLC for bundling YouTube Music with paid subscriptions to the YouTube Premium service is also expected to be completed next month.

In February 2023, the agency began investigating Google over suspicions of bundling YouTube Music with its YouTube Premium services.

The investigations into platform companies is in line with a recent case where the authority fined Coupang Inc. more than 140 billion won ($100 million) for prioritizing its own branded products in sales.

Responding to criticism that the sanction against Coupang may over-regulate domestic companies, Han said that the sanction is aimed at establishing fair market practices in the platform market, stimulating innovative competition and increasing consumer welfare, dismissing allegations of discriminatory treatment between domestic and foreign companies.

The FTC, in the meantime, will also conclude its investigation into alleged collusion among domestic commercial banks on loan-to-value (LTV) ratios for mortgage loans later this year.

In January, the authority suspected KB Kookmin Bank, Woori Bank, Shinhan Bank, and Hana Bank of colluding by sharing LTV information and other loan details to prevent excessively favorable loan terms for customers.