GM Korea’s automotive factory in Bupyeong, west of Seoul, is seen in this file photo taken Feb. 8, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 3 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s antitrust regulator issued a corrective order to GM Korea Co. for its restriction on dealerships’ advertising activities as the local unit of General Motors Co. has banned its dealerships from advertising through online media, excluding Facebook.
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday ordered GM Korea to correct its abuse of power to restrict dealerships’ online advertising activities, as well as to inform all of its dealerships of the corrective measures.
According to the FTC’s investigation, GM Korea sent social media guidelines to its dealerships during the period from April 2016 to recent days, preventing them from advertising through other online media except for Facebook.
Even when advertising through Facebook, they were required to advertise only the content arranged in advance through an authorized account.
GM Korea imposed penalties on the dealerships and salespersons who advertised on other social media channels.
They were also required to submit a letter of confirmation to make sure that they would comply with GM Korea’s social media advertising guidelines.
The FTC stressed that such behaviors constitute unfair intervention of management activities that are prohibited under the Fair Agency Transaction Act.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
