FTC renews push for platform act legislation

The nation’s top antitrust agency will continue pushing to legislate a controversial platform act, as part of its key policy initiatives to ensure fair competition by regulating a few dominant platform operators despite a lingering backlash from the industry, Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Han Ki-jeong told reporters, Thursday.

The Platform Fair Competition Act is aimed at regulating a few industry-leading online and mobile platform firms, but its timely legislation hit a snag amid opposition from industry players. They argue the regulation will end up blocking foreign capital inflow and weaken innovation across the industry.

However, the FTC chief displayed his unwavering determination to push for its legislation, citing examples of similar cases in other countries.

“The European Union and a group of other developed nations — such as Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan — have enacted similar laws or plan to do so, and the FTC will also follow similar footsteps by closely monitoring details from its overseas counterparts,” Han said during a press conference.

He also pledged to take multiple factors into consideration to minimize potential side effects.

“The platform regulation is a global issue, and it is related with potential trade conflicts with other countries, so the FTC will keep holding talks with relevant government authorities to reach a reasonable outcome,” he said.

The FTC shared its plans to enact the law in December, but it has since failed to make any smooth progress amid concerns over designating market-dominant firms. Industry circles have voiced concerns as to how the FTC can introduce fair standards for designating the companies, as overseas platform firms do not abide by local regulations on the same footing as their Korean counterparts.

“We are receiving diverse opinion from not just academic, but also industry circles,” Han said. “The FTC will also keep holding in-depth discussion with the ruling and opposition parties, so we can find the most desirable policy direction.”

The FTC also said it will also continue to step up monitoring on Chinese e-commerce firms — such as AliExpress and Temu — to ensure customers’ safety amid their rapidly growing influence here.

In February, the FTC launched an inspection of the Chinese firms’ alleged deceptive and exaggerated sales practices, after they came under criticism for distributing excessive coupons, which the authority said may end up misleading customers here.