- 26,000 Suspected Backdoor Advertising Posts Rectified on Instagram, Naver Blog, YouTube, etc.
The Fair Trade Commission (Chairman Han Ki-jung, hereinafter referred to as the "FTC") has announced the results of its monitoring of social networking service (SNS) posts that take the form of reviews and are suspected of engaging in deceptive advertising over the past year.
Deceptive advertising refers to the act of advertising without clearly disclosing that the recommender or endorser has received financial compensation from the advertiser.
The Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising prohibits deceptive practices that mislead consumers. Additionally, the Guidelines on Endorsements and Testimonials explicitly stipulate that "economic interests" between endorsers and advertisers must be clearly disclosed, specifying the placement, content, and format of such disclosures.
Since 2021, the FTC has been conducting annual inspections of review-type posts on SNS platforms such as Instagram, Naver Blog, and YouTube. It encourages voluntary rectification of posts suspected of engaging in deceptive advertising.
In 2024, the FTC commissioned the Korea Internet Advertising Foundation to conduct an inspection, identifying a total of 22,011 suspected deceptive advertising posts. As a result, content creators and advertisers were urged to voluntarily rectify the posts, leading to the correction of 26,033 posts in total.
By type, the most common issues among suspected deceptive advertising posts were:
① No disclosure of financial compensation at all (26.5%)
② Disclosure placed in an inappropriate location (39.4%)
③ Disclosure made using improper expressions (17.3%)
By sector, the most affected product categories included “health and hygiene products,” “clothing, textiles, and personal accessories,” and “food and beverages.” In the service sector, the "food service industry" had the highest number of cases.
Notably, the proportion of short-form content among suspected deceptive advertising posts increased significantly compared to the previous year. This trend is attributed to the growing prominence of short-form content as a key advertising medium and the fact that video creators and advertisers have yet to fully recognize their obligation to disclose financial relationships.
The FTC plans to continue monitoring backdoor advertising this year to ensure accurate consumer information and support rational purchasing decisions. Additionally, to aid compliance by content creators and advertisers, the FTC will incorporate recent revisions to the Guidelines on Endorsements and Testimonials into a newly developed "Guide to Disclosure of Financial Relationships," which is set to be distributed in the latter half of the year.