[News Today] FTC MULLS SANCTIONS FOR TEMU

[LEAD]
Chinese e-commerce giant Temu's website and application are filled with promotional coupons promising extraordinary benefits. I've tried it myself, and it's almost impossible to look products up because so many pop-up ads of these coupons come up. Following its investigation into allegations of false and exaggerated advertisements into benefits, it has been found that the Fair Trade Commission has now initiated sanction procedures.

[REPORT]
Chinese e-commerce platform Temu advanced into the Korean market, following in the footsteps of AliExpress.

It offers many coupons promoting 90-percent discounts and 100-percent cash backs.

It looks as if anyone who clicks on the coupons can receive the benefits.

But there are hidden conditions attached. Users can get the discounts only after they invite other people to install Temu's app.

Users can only see these conditions by clicking a small "rules" button above the ad.

The Fair Trade Commission suspected these ads might be false or exaggerated and began a probe in April. The investigation was recently concluded.

Last Thursday, the FTC sent Temu a review report, including its opinions of possible penalties for violating advertising regulations.

Late last month, the FTC sent a similar review report to AliExpress for similar reasons.

In July, the FTC also sanctioned both firms for violating e-commerce laws by failing to report to local governments as required.

This means investigations into the Chinese e-commerce platforms, which began in March, have concluded.

The FTC plans to hold meetings to determine possible sanctions and their severity.

More than 16 million Korean consumers are now using AliExpress and Temu each month.