Seoul, April 27 (AHN) South Korea's antitrust regulator on Monday ordered changes to unfair terms used by seven major e-commerce platforms, aiming to better protect consumer rights.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it reviewed user agreements and identified 11 types of unfair clauses across four main categories used by platforms operated by Coupang Inc., Naver Corp., Kurly Corp., SSG.com, Gmarket, 11Street and Nol Universe Co, reports Yonhap news agency.

The companies agreed to revise the terms following the regulator's recommendations, the FTC added.

The watchdog said the changes are intended to strengthen consumer protections and ensure safer handling of personal data by platform operators.

One of the clauses involved Coupang's former policy that prevented users from receiving refunds for prepaid Coupay Money balances after account termination, the FTC said.

Coupang earlier said about 3,000 user accounts were affected. However, a joint public-private investigation later found the issue had impacted more than 33.6 million accounts.

Meanwhile, Coupang has denied allegations that it lobbied U.S. government officials to pressure the South Korean government following a data leak controversy that emerged in November.

The company also rejected claims that its lobbying activities involved security-related issues, calling such assertions unfounded.

Citing disclosures under the U.S. Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), Coupang said its lobbying efforts focused on promoting economic cooperation between Seoul and Washington and expanding professional visa opportunities for South Koreans seeking employment in the United States.

The filings show the company also engaged with U.S. authorities on plans to expand investment and commercial activity in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, without addressing security matters, Coupang said in a text message.

The company said it spent 1.6 billion won (US$1.09 million) on lobbying in the January-March period.

—AHN

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