This article is by Ahn Hyo-seong and read by an artificial voice.

No more surprises for online shoppers - when booking hotels or other services online, consumers in Korea will soon be able to see the final price, including all taxes and service charges, on the initial shopping screen. Subscription services like Netflix will also be required to obtain explicit customer consent at least one month in advance before raising their fees.
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) will begin enforcing these changes on Friday under revised consumer protection guidelines for e-commerce. The revisions aim to curb "dark patterns," deceptive design tactics that mislead consumers. The move follows a February amendment to the Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce targeting dark patterns, with the FTC's update serving as a follow-up enforcement measure. The revised guidelines include detailed interpretations and recommendations for businesses.
Under the new rules, online shopping platforms must clearly display the total cost - the full amount a consumer must pay for a product or service - from the initial search or product page. For hotel bookings, this means prices must include all mandatory charges such as service fees, cleaning fees and taxes. The same applies to home appliances, where the listed price must reflect all associated costs, including shipping and installation.
Subscription services are also subject to stricter regulation regarding "quiet renewals," where consumers are not properly informed of price hikes or automatic transitions from free to paid plans. To prevent this, the FTC requires that businesses notify customers of any changes in price or payment terms at least 30 days in advance and obtain "explicit consent" for the new terms. Without such consent, businesses must either maintain the previous rate or cancel the subscription.
Complicating the process of canceling or unsubscribing will also be prohibited. Sign-up and cancellation must follow the same steps. For instance, if joining a service is possible via a mobile app, leaving it must be just as easy - not requiring a phone call with a staff member. The use of tactics like prompting users to "think again," repeatedly warning about lost benefits or requiring more than two additional steps to cancel will also be banned. Cancellation and unsubscribe buttons must be easy to locate and designed for intuitive user understanding.
"The revised guidelines offer concrete enforcement standards, industry examples and compliance recommendations for regulating dark patterns under the e-commerce law," said Yang Dong-hun, director of the FTC's Consumer Transaction Policy Division. "These guidelines complete a cohesive regulatory framework, following the law and its enforcement decree."
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

Ver todos los episodios