Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light, though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they, do not go gentle into that good night.
Afreeca TV fined for violating consumer rights
Afreeca TV's webpage
By Jhoo Dong-chan
By Jhoo Dong-chan
Afreeca TV and six other me-media platforms were fined for violating various customer rights, including conducting false advertising to attract more online interaction, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Sunday.
Me-media platforms are online services that allow a user to post their own content, such as blogs, photographs and personal profiles, on the internet.
The antitrust agency said Sunday that it fined seven me-media platforms a total of 20.5 million won ($18,222) for violating the electronic commercial law. The six other platforms are Global Monster, Marketing-is, cenCloud, Win Enterprise, Kakao TV and The E&M.
“The seven platforms did not provide customer rights regarding their refund policies on their websites. Also, they haven't allowed customer refunds,” the FTC said in a press release.
“Under the electronic commercial law, customers are allowed to get a refund within seven days of purchasing an item online. However, a number of me-media platforms have claimed on their websites that their online items are all non-refundable.”
The nation's largest video me-media platform Afreeca TV was found to have not included value-added tax (VAT) in their online items' advertised prices in a bid to attract more customers. Under related laws, businesses should include VAT in end prices of their products.
Kakao TV also did not stipulate that a customer can cancel a contract if an underage customer purchased an item online without prior consultation with his or her legal guardian.
The seven platforms were all found to have not properly specified their company name, corporate registration number, address and terms of service on their websites.
“In a bid to encourage the nation's online media market, the FTC hasn't actively regulated platform service providers, but things have now changed,” said an FTC official.
“The market is getting bigger. The agency will continue to look closely into me-media platforms to protect customer rights.”
Naver Blog and Facebook used to be the dominant me-media platforms a few years ago in Korea, but the trend has been turned over to video platforms such as Afreeca TV and Youtube.
According to the Software Policy & Research Institute, the nation's me-media market size was estimated at 300 billion won as of 2016, and is expected to reach 2 trillion won by 2020. Me-media platforms profit through advertising and margin revenue via online currencies such as Afreeca TV's “star balloons.”