Taiwan’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law which will fine bloggers up to ten times the payments they receive for misleading advertisements that make false claims or exaggerate about the products and companies they endorse.
This has reportedly been necessitated as the number of consumer disputes are surging.
Local media reported that some bloggers were being paid up to Tw$70,000 ($2,300) per review. Masked as benign journal entries, the bloggers promote products and services to entice customers.
In a recent incident, a popular blogger fabricated photographs to enhance the effect of beauty products, it is said.
Legal disputes involving Internet commentaries have been increasing steadily over the years, mostly owing to negative assessments of products.
Another incident saw a woman being ordered to pay a noodle shop Tw$200,000 for assessing its food as "really bad" on her blog.
