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| Naver headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times file |
By Kim Hyun-bin
The country's antitrust agency will inspect the business practices of Naver, Kakao and other live commerce operators to check whether they treat their suppliers and consumers unfairly, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Monday.
The agency plans to scrutinize the terms and conditions in the rapidly growing distribution sector, which includes live commerce and subscription services, officials said.
Live commerce is attracting attention as a new distribution channel with low entry barriers that enables buyers and sellers to communicate in real time through video or text chat. But consumer complaints are also on the rise as the number of users increases and the FTC aims to look out for any unfair practices.
Naver, Kakao, Coupang, Baedal Minjok and Grip, which are representative platform operators in the live commerce field, are expected to be included in the inspection. The FTC plans to focus on whether brokerage operators unfairly pass their burden on to consumers, or excessively limit the copyright of sellers and creators regarding content.
Previously, the FTC called on Naver, WeMakePrice, Coupang and Yogiyo to voluntarily correct their provisions that enabled them to keep using copyrighted materials for free and extensively even after the end of the service or did not specify the purpose of using the proprietary materials.
The watchdog is expected to look into whether the live commerce platform operators have immunity rules for financial losses caused by their negligence.
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