[Editorial] Why are rampant illegal, false and exaggerated ads being left unchecked?

So-called “undisclosed ads” and exaggerated and false advertising are flooding social media and deceiving consumers, while the authorities are powerless to stop them. Monitoring over the past five years identified as many as 108,709 promotional posts falsely claiming that the products featured were ones the writers had bought and used with their own money. This is shown in data obtained from the Fair Trade Commission on the 21st by Rep. Park Sung-hoon of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee.
These promotional posts, written mainly by professional bloggers, were made in exchange for payment but presented as genuine user reviews. Other services, including restaurants and hair salons, accounted for the largest share, with 5,791 cases (25.5%), followed by clothing and textiles, personal goods, health and hygiene products, and food and other discretionary goods.
More serious still is advertising that uses virtual people generated by artificial intelligence (AI). It presents virtual figures as if they were real doctors or experts to entice consumers to buy goods or services. Many consumers are being duped by such exaggerated and false ads on social media and are buying the products.
The problem is that penalties for these ads are weak, even though they fail to meet the most basic standards, such as disclosing that a promotional post was paid for or that an AI-generated virtual person was used. At most, undisclosed ads on social media are referred to the Korea Internet Advertising Foundation, which urges the removal of the posts. AI-powered virtual ads are evolving and proliferating, yet the authorities have done little to address them. The only cases in which the Fair Trade Commission has imposed sanctions are three plastic surgery clinics in Seoul’s Gangnam and Seocho districts.
Meanwhile, harm to consumers and their complaints are only growing. Promotional posts should not simply be deleted; repeat offenders should face tougher measures, such as restrictions on the bloggers’ internet access. Sellers behind AI ads should be tracked down and sanctioned. Some ads may, of course, be hosted on servers abroad, including in China, but the authorities should consider a range of enforcement measures.
It is also a problem that not only general programming channels but even terrestrial broadcasters produce various health advice programs in conjunction with product advertising. While a health program is airing on a general programming channel, it subtly recommends products that may be helpful, then advertises them through a home-shopping broadcast on the channel right next door. Such promotional broadcasts have been openly produced, but the review authorities have turned a blind eye and done nothing.
Only recently, the Broadcasting Media and Communications Review Commission voted to impose statutory sanctions on all four general programming channels for broadcasts that could lead viewers to mistake health functional foods for medicines. This level of punishment is too weak. To start, programs that openly recommend health foods without disclosing that they received sponsorship should be taken off the air. Home-shopping tie-ins scheduled in the same time slot should also be prohibited.
Techniques for recommending products or services while concealing that they are, in effect, advertisements are constantly evolving. As AI advances, they are likely to become even more widespread. Consumers have little choice but to be deceived by these sophisticated tactics. The problem has already spread too widely to leave it to consumers to make their own judgments. Businesses launching products are bound to seek out these illegal advertising methods first.
More proactive enforcement measures are needed. If continuous monitoring or consumer reports lead authorities to determine that an ad is illegally false or exaggerated, they should consider blocking it immediately and imposing punishment, including hefty administrative fines or criminal complaints. False advertising aimed at the general public is not as minor a problem as one might think.