Incident 435: Coupang Allegedly Tweaked Search Algorithms to Boost Own Products

Responded
Description: Coupang was alleged in internal reports tampering its search algorithms to prioritize exposure of its own products, which potentially violated Korea's Fair Trade Act.

Entities

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Alleged: Coupang developed and deployed an AI system, which harmed Coupang suppliers and Coupang customers.

Incident Stats

Incident ID
435
Report Count
4
Incident Date
2021-07-04
Editors
Khoa Lam
Applied Taxonomies
CSETv1_Annotator-1, CSETv1

CSETv1 Taxonomy Classifications

Taxonomy Details

Incident Number

435

AI Tangible Harm Level Notes

Coupang was fined 3.29 billion won ($2.81 million) after it manipulated search algorithms to prioritize its own products over those of suppliers.

Special Interest Intangible Harm

no

Date of Incident Year

2017

CSETv1_Annotator-1 Taxonomy Classifications

Taxonomy Details

Incident Number

435

AI Tangible Harm Level Notes

Coupang was fined 3.29 billion won ($2.81 million) after it manipulated search algorithms to prioritize its own products over those of suppliers.

Special Interest Intangible Harm

no

Date of Incident Year

2017

Coupang investigated by FTC over accusations of meddling with algorithms
koreaherald.com · 2021

South Korea's antitrust watchdog has launched a probe into e-commerce giant Coupang over the accusation that the company has meddled with algorithms to prioritize its own products, according to multiple reports on Sunday.

According to the r…

Coupang faces probe over alleged manipulation of search algorithms
ft.com · 2021

South Korea's Coupang is being investigated over allegations it manipulated search algorithms to prioritise its own products over those of suppliers, according to industry figures with knowledge of the probe.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission…

Coupang probed by FTC for alleged tampering of algorithm on its platform
econotimes.com · 2021

Coupang was reportedly investigated by South Korea's Fair Trade Commission due to allegations that the e-commerce company tampered with algorithms so it can prioritize its own products. This was reported by insiders this weekend.

According …

Coupang fined $2.8 mil. for unfair business practices
koreatimes.co.kr · 2021
Yi Whan-woo post-incident response

Coupang has been fined 3.29 billion won ($2.81 million) by the country's top antitrust regulator, Thursday, for its alleged involvement in unfair business practices and interfering in the business of vendors.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission…

Variants

A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.

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