Duo Information fined for false advertising of professional member counts

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has imposed a corrective order and a fine of 345 million won on Duo Information Co., Ltd., a marriage information service provider, for false and exaggerated advertising.

Between April 2022 and recently, Duo advertised having the “highest number of professional and prestigious university members in the industry.” However, investigations revealed that the company used arbitrary criteria to calculate these figures without comparing them to competitors or providing objective evidence. The company’s classification of “professional members” included various specialists such as doctors, lawyers, and accountants, while “prestigious university members” included graduates from medical schools, metropolitan universities, and national universities.

Duo also falsely claimed to be the “only company subject to external audit” and the “only company disclosing to the Financial Supervisory Service.” The FTC found that competitors had already been disclosing audit reports via the DART system during the same period. Additionally, the company inflated its number of professional managers, claiming 230 staff members when only 188 were specialized in member matchmaking; the higher figure included general employees.

The FTC noted that such information significantly influences consumer choice in the marriage information market. The commission plans to increase monitoring of unfair advertising and is pursuing legislative amendments to raise the maximum limits for fixed fines to improve enforcement effectiveness.