Republic of Korea: Appeal rejected by Seoul High Court regarding abuse of dominant market position ruling against Naver

On 14 December 2022, the Seoul High Court confirmed the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) ruling against Naver, after the e-commerce platform appealed. The KFTC ruled in October 2020, that Naver had abused its dominant market position and engaged in unfair trade practices. The KFTC found that Naver favoured its own goods and services in the user's searches for shopping and video services and ranked them consistently at the top while lowering the ranking of its competitors. Naver did so by adjusting its search algorithm. The KFTC found this behaviour to distort competition and lead to non-objective search results. In its ruling, the court also recognized the expectations of users when it comes to optimal search results. The KFTC fined Naver KRW 26.5 billion and KRW 200 million for modifying its algorithm to engage in self-preferencing.