<Case Summary>

Court & Case

Seoul High Court, Administrative Division 3

Decision date: January 22, 2026

Case No.: 2024누39419


What Happened

The court upheld corrective measures imposed by the Korea Fair Trade Commission against Airbnb for inadequate consumer information disclosure.


Regulatory Background

The KFTC found that Airbnb:

Failed to verify whether accommodation providers were business operators or individuals, and

Failed to clearly disclose provider identity information to consumers on its website/app.


In March 2024, the KFTC issued a corrective order citing violations of the Electronic Commerce Act’s consumer-protection purpose.


Key Legal Issue

Whether a platform acting as a mail-order brokerage (통신판매중개업자) must verify and disclose whether hosts are business operators (not merely pass along whatever information hosts submit).


Airbnb’s Argument

As an intermediary, Airbnb argued it had no duty to verify a host’s business status.

Claimed it sufficed to relay identity information as received from hosts.


KFTC’s Position

The platform must confirm whether a host is a business or an individual and accurately disclose that status to consumers to facilitate dispute resolution.


Court’s Holding

The court rejected Airbnb’s challenge and affirmed the KFTC’s corrective order.


Court’s Reasoning

Airbnb must, at minimum during account registration, guide hosts to provide accurate business information and warn of consequences for false entries.

Where hosts’ transaction volume or revenue indicates business activity, Airbnb cannot ignore verification.

Allowing hosts who function as businesses to freely choose individual-host accounts fell short of statutory duties.

The corrective order’s instruction to consult with the KFTC within 60 days on implementation details did not violate clarity or specificity principles; it properly constrained execution to the order’s objectives.


Why It Matters

Platforms cannot remain passive conduits for seller identity in e-commerce.

Verification duties scale with risk: transaction volume and revenue can trigger heightened obligations.

The ruling strengthens consumer protection and dispute resolution by ensuring clear seller identification.



Takeaway

> For e-commerce intermediaries in Korea, identity verification is not optional. When platform data signals business activity, the duty to verify and disclose activates, and passing the buck to sellers won’t do.

Article: https://www.lawtimes.co.kr/Case-curation/215329