Prosecutors have launched a compulsory investigation into Naver's alleged abuse of market dominance in relation to real estate sales information.
The Fair Trade Investigation Department of the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office (Director Jeong-seop Lee) is conducting a search and seizure by sending prosecutors and investigators to the Naver headquarters in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, on charges of violating the Fair Trade Act today (12th).
Naver is accused of blocking the provision of real estate sales information provided to Naver to Kakao while signing a contract with a real estate information company from May 2015 to September 2017.
The search and seizure was carried out when the Fair Trade Commission filed a complaint with the prosecution against Naver in November last year after receiving a request for a mandatory complaint from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.
In December 2020, the Fair Trade Commission reported that Naver blocked the provision of information on Kakao by signing an exclusive conditional contract with a real estate information company, and imposed a correction order and a fine of 1.32 billion won.
At the time, the Fair Trade Commission judged that Naver, which was providing information for sale in partnership with a real estate information company, changed the terms of the contract and blocked entry into the market when Kakao approached the partner company to change its business model like its own.
In response, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups held a deliberation committee on the request for medical complaints in November last year and requested that the case be reported to the prosecution.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups may request an accusation for cases that the Fair Trade Commission did not report to the prosecution in consideration of the damage or social ripple effect on SMEs, and the Fair Trade Commission is obliged to comply.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups made this decision, judging that Naver's actions caused damage on condition that a small and medium-sized real estate information company could not do business with Kakao.