South Korea's antitrust regulator has penalized matchmaking firm Duo for falsely advertising that it had the largest number of members in professional occupations and graduates of top universities in the industry.
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said on the 26th that it imposed a fine of 345 million won ($249,000) on Duo, along with corrective and public disclosure orders, for false and exaggerated advertising under the Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising.
The FTC found that from around April 2022 until recently, Duo ran advertisements through online articles, its website, blogs and outdoor billboards using phrases such as "5,135 professionals, the most in the industry" and "16,479 members from top universities, the largest in the industry."
The commission said there was no objective basis for the claims and that Duo never conducted any comparison with competitors. It also concluded that the company's criteria for "professionals" and "top universities" were statistics compiled at its own discretion.
Duo classified doctors, dentists, oriental medicine doctors, veterinarians, pharmacists, lawyers, judges, prosecutors, certified public accountants and tax accountants as professionals. Its definition of top universities included medical schools, universities in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area, regional national universities, military academies and specialized institutions such as the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
Duo was also accused of advertising itself as "the industry's only corporation subject to external audit" and "the only company in the country listed on the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system."
The FTC determined these claims were false, as a competing matchmaking firm had filed audit reports on the electronic disclosure system (DART) during the advertising period.
Duo also advertised that it had "230 professional managers, the most in the industry," but the actual number of managers stood at 188 as of October 2023. The figure of 230 included general staff, the commission found.
The FTC stressed that because customers in the matchmaking market find it difficult to assess the content of a service before signing up and receiving it, it is critical that operators provide accurate information based on objective evidence and facts in their advertising.
"We plan to continue monitoring unfair advertising in the matchmaking industry and to work toward creating a trading environment that consumers can trust," an FTC official said.
