[2026 Parliamentary Audit] Insurance Ad Violations Top 47,000... Penalties Imposed in Just 10 Cases

70% received corrective measures... Authorities imposed just one penalty for violating the Financial Consumer Protection Act
Opposition lawmaker Park Seonghoon: "Effective penalties needed for repeated and serious violations"

More than 47,000 advertisements violating insurance advertising review rules were detected online, including on YouTube and blogs, over the past four and a half years. However, most resulted only in corrective measures such as deleting or revising posts, and monetary penalties were imposed in just 10 cases.

According to data submitted by the Financial Services Commission, the Financial Supervisory Service and other agencies to Park Seonghoon of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly’s National Policy Committee, a total of 47,078 violations of advertising review rules were identified through the General Insurance Association of Korea’s Misleading Advertising Report Center from 2022 through the first half of this year.

By year, the number surged from 3,467 in 2022 to 25,271 in 2023, then fell to 16,461 in 2024, 1,567 in 2025 and 312 in the first half of this year.

By type of violation, 28,918 advertisements, or 61.4% of the total, had not undergone the required prior review. The remaining 18,160 involved omissions such as failing to include required information.

By medium, blogs accounted for the most violations, with 39,109, followed by YouTube and other platforms (4,943) and other media, including Instagram, Facebook and Naver Knowledge iN (3,026).

Separate from the report center, inspections also found 1,621 violations of advertising review rules from 2022 through the first half of this year, and corrective measures were taken in all cases.

The current Financial Consumer Protection Act sets requirements for advertisements to ensure that information about financial products is conveyed to consumers clearly and fairly. Advertisements for business activities, as well as insurance products, must also undergo the relevant review process.

However, few penalties have been imposed for violations.

Of the 47,078 cases identified through the report center, 33,367 (70.9%) resulted only in corrective measures, such as deleting or revising posts.

Monetary penalties were imposed in just 10 cases: three in 2023, four in 2024 and three in the first half of this year.

The Financial Services Commission has imposed an administrative fine on an insurance agency for violating Article 22 of the Financial Consumer Protection Act in just one case.

This year, the insurance agency Home Insu was fined 1 billion won for omitting required information from a business advertisement on YouTube. It has challenged the decision and is currently pursuing a lawsuit.

Online insurance advertisements can be posted, deleted and reposted easily, and can spread rapidly. This has raised concerns that corrective measures alone may not be enough to prevent habitual or deliberate violations.

“More than tens of thousands of insurance advertising violations have been detected, but if most cases end with posts being deleted or revised, that could effectively send the wrong message that ‘if you get caught, you can just take it down,’” Park said. “Financial authorities must thoroughly inspect habitual and deliberate illegal advertising and ensure that repeated or serious violations are met with effective penalties.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.