South Korea fines Coupang $220 million for anti-competitive delivery practices

South Korea's antitrust regulator has imposed a provisional fine of 300.8 billion won ($220.6 million) on e-commerce company Coupang for abusing its dominant position in the food delivery market, alongside a separate penalty against a rival platform operator.

South Korea’s antitrust regulator has imposed a provisional fine of 300.8 billion won ($220.6 million) on e-commerce company Coupang for abusing its dominant position in the food delivery market, alongside a separate penalty against a rival platform operator.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said Coupang required restaurants using its delivery app, Coupang Eats, to offer terms at least as favourable as those available on competing platforms, restricting their ability to compete on prices and other conditions.

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The regulator said Coupang imposed six requirements, including menu prices, minimum order amounts, discounts, customer delivery charges, the number of menu items and operating hours.

Restaurants that failed to comply risked losing their “Wow restaurant” designation, which allowed them to offer discounts and free delivery to customers enrolled in Coupang’s paid membership programme.

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The proportion of restaurants meeting the requirements rose to nearly 94 percent in October 2025, from about 13 percent in July 2023, the KFTC said.

The regulator also imposed a provisional fine of 331.1 billion won on Woowa Brothers, the operator of rival delivery app Baemin, for similar requirements and other practices that it said restricted competition.

Woowa Brothers said it had explained to the regulator why it believed its conduct was lawful and regretted that its arguments had not been fully accepted. It said it would review the decision.

Coupang called its penalty excessive, saying it was more than 600 times the fine imposed in a comparable case involving another food delivery app in 2020. It also argued that the KFTC had included revenue unrelated to the alleged violations when calculating the penalty, undermining its right to defend itself. The company said it would challenge the decision through legal proceedings.

The ruling adds to tensions between US-listed Coupang and South Korean authorities. In June, the company was fined 624 billion won over a 2025 data breach that affected more than 33 million customers. Coupang has disputed the government’s findings and handling of that case.

The company has also maintained a lobbying operation in Washington, where some Republican lawmakers have accused Seoul of discriminating against an American company, a claim South Korean officials have rejected.

The KFTC said the requirements restricted restaurants’ ability to set their own prices and trading conditions across platforms, undermining competition and making it harder for rival businesses to compete.