Yonhap News Agency reported that the "Personal Information Protection Commission," a directly affiliated agency of the South Korean prime minister, is investigating the collection and use of personal information on Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms, including "AliExpress" under Alibaba and Temu under Pinduoduo.
Commissioner Ko Ho-suk said that a questionnaire survey will be conducted first to grasp the policies of e-commerce platforms in handling personal information, the process of obtaining consent for the collection and utilization of personal information, the location of information storage, and the transfer situation. If it is found through investigation that there are violations, it will be required to be corrected and fined.
The report quoted statistics that as of March, the number of users in South Korea of AliExpress and Temu respectively was 8.88 million and 8.30 million, second only to the local e-commerce giant Coupang. In this case, the authorities decided to form a special team to be responsible for dealing with the situation of Chinese cross-border e-commerce entering the country.
