Coupang fined for own brand search engine rigging

South Korea's competition watchdog fined e-commerce company Coupang for covertly manipulating its search engine algorithms in favour of its own label products. 

Coupang was fined 3.29 billion won (approximately USD 2.81 million) by the country’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) for engaging in unfair practices related to its search engine algorithms, including tampering with its search algorithms to favour its own label products over those of third parties.

The company was also found to have forced hundreds of sellers to reduce prices for goods sold on its platform - while simultaneously increasing prices on rival platforms.

The investigation came hard on the heels of an on-the-spot inspection at the company's Seoul headquarters in Seoul following complaints by customers, civic groups and others that it had abused its market position by favouring its own brands products. 

Tampering with algorithms is common in South Korea’s e-commerce sector, according to the Financial Times.