Online cosmetic advertisements containing false claims or misleading information have increased
sharply in the first quarter of this year, the Seoul municipal government said Monday.
The city government said it has discovered 191 cases of misleading or exaggerated advertising for cosmetic products placed by online shopping malls in the first three months of this year, which is 4.7
times more than those from a year earlier.
The cases included cosmetics products' claims to have medicinal effects, which is banned in such ads, and adding "stem cells" to the names of products that in fact did not contain that ingredient.
Officials said they referred 53 cases to law enforcement authorities for investigation and ordered companies to take corrective measures in 138 cases.