The Fair Trade Commission(FTC) has fined Coupang 140 billion won for manipulating search engine algorithms for greater exposure of its own brand products to boost sales. That’s around 102 million U.S. dollars. 

The country’s antitrust regulator also on Thursday unveiled plans to file a complaint against the e-commerce giant and its subsidiary, Coupang Private Label Brands(CPLB).  

According to the FTC, Coupang disregarded actual search results for products and intentionally adjusted rankings of most-searched goods to put their private brand(PB) products at the top of such rankings.  

The commission also concluded that the e-commerce giant had mobilized some 23-hundred employees to write false reviews since February 2019 on its private-label products to attract customers. 

The commission assessed that such acts had hampered fair competition with companies that sell products on Coupang and hindered consumers from making reasonable purchase choices.  

Coupang, on its part, said it will immediately appeal the FTC decision, calling it unfair.